‘Golden Girls’ Creatives Spill the Tea

This confirms to me that Bea's hatred of Betty had to do with something Betty did and that Bea never got over. They used to walk arm and arm on set and hand in hand to lunch every day. That's not the behavior of two women who can't stand each other. Bea started calling Betty a cunt and Marsha told her to "get over it", but get over what exactly? Sounds like something specific happened and Bea started hating Betty around season 4.

I totally think Betty let Bea motorboat her once and then put the kibosh on it and Bea was hurt. Also nice to know that Deena Freeman, the off-brand Didi Conn who played the second Kate Zbornak, was in the audience.

Who’d have thought there would be a need of an “off-brand Didii Conn” but R2, you nailed it - that’s exactly what Freeman was. I remember her playing Cousin April for a season or so on Too Close For Comfort.

R3 I never thought there would be a need for an off-brand Meg Foster but grateful there was!

"Betty told me I could play with her titties. Then she took them away. CUNT!!!"

This story is like the Datalounge Pentagon Papers.

There are clips on Youtube of Betty being fun on the set, jokingly teasing Bea after flubbing a line and talking to the audience during filming. Bea didn't seem amused. (Though the audience loved it.). In the article at OP, one of the panelists seems to be referencing this YouTube clip when he talks about Betty breaking character.

I think Betty nailed it when she said that she was always sunshine and giggles, and that seemed to annoy Bea. Maybe Bea saw Betty's behavior as attention-seeking and possibly even fake. And maybe she thought that Betty was kissing up to the audience for popularity. And possibly it happened too many times on a bad day.

Gonna see if I can find a video of this somewhere so I can see the whole panel discussion.

I wish they would have invited Lynnie Greene, who guest starred as "Young Dorothy" in a few episodes. She copied Bea's body language, gestures, and speaking style perfectly. She's also shared some tidbits in a podcast before, such as Bea being in a bad mood when she had to play Sophia's mother in a flashback. Lynnie suggested that she was upset at having to wear aging make-up, Then her mood got worse when someone bumped her wheelchair into a wall.

[quote] I think Betty nailed it when she said that she was always sunshine and giggles, and that seemed to annoy Bea. Maybe Bea saw Betty's behavior as attention-seeking and possibly even fake. And maybe she thought that Betty was kissing up to the audience for popularity. And possibly it happened too many times on a bad day.

Uh, if you're an actor and on set or in public, that's what you do. Bea was a capital C you next Tuesday and we all know it.

I can't really pick a side in the Bea-Betty war.

R10 it really is the gay Sophie's Choice, isn't it?

[quote] She's also shared some tidbits in a podcast before, such as Bea being in a bad mood

So it was a day ending in “y.”

Is creatives a word we are going to have to put with for some time?

The pathology of Bea’s hatred of Betty is more than I ever imagined. It always seemed like one of those shred of truth things that became exaggerated for affect through the years. But, wow, it sounds like Bea was obsessed.

Calling up a “Golden Girls” producer years after the show ended to say “I just saw that cunt Betty White at the grocery store. I’m going to write her a letter” is not the behavior of a mature, sane, stable woman in her 70s.

To be that deranged and angry over a former coworker who simply annoyed you is baffling. Meanwhile, you’ve had a wildly successful, multi-award-winning career on stage and screen that at least 99 percent of performers would envy.

I used to adore, Bea. But in retrospect she sounds so pitiful and petty.

Plus, Bea was credited first and, I assume, she was paid more than the other ladies. (I have never seen their salaries discussed). Yet, Bea was still bitter as ever.

They even gave Bea a small piece of the show to keep her for the seventh season. That’s unheard of and a gesture none of the other women were offered. And still, all Bitter Bea could do is bitch and complain.

I think her husband dumping her for another woman permanently broke Bea’s brain.

I hope her kids are enjoying the spoils of her career.