Unless you live under a rock, there is no way you haven’t heard of the mega-hit show, The Golden Girls which aired from 1985 to 1992 and attracted the hearts of audiences worldwide.
Zimmerman, a young writer at the time, recalls the first time Getty came over to talk to him: “I was very excited that she was coming over to talk to me and my writing partner, Jim. And she’s like, teeny tiny. And she came in her layover and she’s like, ‘come here, come here’.”
He continued: “She pulls us to the back of the set and we’re like, ‘just follow her. She’s Estelle Getty!’ And she said to us, ‘your secret’s safe with me’. And I thought that we’re Jewish. And it was actually, that we’re gay. And she had got to know a lot of gay people through this play, Torch Song Trilogy.”
Estelle Getty’s minor know side…
Zimmerman shared that in real life, she had a motherly quality about her while her character delivered zingers on camera. He recalled: “She had that very motherly quality. And even years after, when I was not writing Golden Girls, we would talk on the phone. And she’d always like to know, like, ‘who you’re dating? Where you working?’ And, you know, and not shy about giving advice about any of that.”
Moreover Estelle played the oldest Golden Girl while she was younger than both Bea Arthur and Betty White! Thus, the makeup team would have to make her appear older through the use of makeup.
Stan shared a funny story about this: “She had to put on old age makeup. And then I think between season one and 2 or 2 and three, she went and got a facelift.
And then, like [the makeup team were like] ‘Estelle, now we need to do your makeup. Why are you looking better?’ But I think she was just so excited to be in Hollywood. And can you imagine your whole life you strive for something and never reaching it and you know, and probably many times you thought of giving it up,” he said.
Something was wrong with Betty White…
Meanwhile, Zimmerman’s first impression of Betty White wasn’t all that positive.
Zimmerman said: “She would walk up to the stands with the audience watching the taping and make jokes. And I thought that was very cruel of her.”
Though recently, because he has grown older, Stan has developed another opinion on it. He shares: “And it was until recently when I thought, oh, maybe she was going over there to draw the attention of the audience and giving Estelle moments to collect herself and remember the lines.”
No one can match the Golden Girls for this reason…
Stan also shared something the four female stars of The Golden Girls did which actors in Hollywood seldom do; thank the writers and credit them in interviews.
Stan said: “And I have to say and thank those four ladies because they went and talked about the writers, pretty much every talk show. They always complimented us as writers. And you don’t usually see that. And so I’m forever grateful for that.”
Stan recalls: “Season one, they said every word, every comma, every period. They said what we wrote.”
