Estelle Getty, 84, leaves behind a 'Golden' legacy

USA TODAY, July, 2008 by Craig Wilson

Estelle Getty, best known as Bea Arthur's sarcastic, purse-swinging mother on The Golden Girls, said she was only "a teensy-weensy bit" like Sophia, the role she played on TV.

"I think people have me mixed up with my character," she told Gannett News Service in 1993. "I would like to be as sure and magnanimous and feisty and strong and indomitable as she is."

Getty died Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 84.

The New York-born actress was revered for her wisecracking, perennially caustic stint as Sophia Petrillo on the beloved 1985-92 series about four female retirees enjoying their golden years in Miami. She also played the role on Golden Palace and Empty Nest.

Getty, who had advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m., said her son Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.

"She was loved throughout the world in six ...