The world got a little less awesome yesterday.
I first saw the news on one of those regular headline sites, but when I checked my Facebook there were a number of people with RIP Bea Arthur in their status messages. She definitely had a long and storied career but if there’s anything that my generation would recognize her from, it’s The Golden Girls. I remember it was on when I was a kid (and went off the air when I was 10) but it was the reruns that helped the show take on a life of its own and introduced new generations to those four iconic ladies. Maude Finlay may have been first, but people are going to remember her as Dorothy Zbornak. But ultimately, you don’t have to mention anything but the name Bea Arthur and people would still recognize you were talking about an irrepressible and irreplaceable legend.
And she did The Urkel too.
Bea Arthur at her best:
(originally there was a clip of her from the Pamela Anderson roast doing a deadpan reading from Pam’s book. Viacom took it down).
I’ll throw in this redub for good measure, just because I like it:
Edit: I’d be remiss if I didn’t include one of her Shoppers Drug Mart ads for Canadian TV. I had completely forgotten about them until one of my friends in university brought them up:
