Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Golden Girls: Estelle Getty Information
Getty's career actually began when she was much younger on the 'borscht belt' circuit and Yiddish stage, but she gave it up to raise a family. She returned to acting much later and became a hit on Broadway as Harvey Fierstein's meddling mom in "Torch Song Trilogy". It was the L.A. tour of this show that led to her being cast in "The Golden Girls" (1985) and at age 62 she became an "overnight" TV star.
Retired in 2000 after revealing she had health issues. In the mid 1990s, she was misdiagnosed with Parkinson's disease. By the end of the 1990s, she was misdiagnosed again, this time with Alzheimer's disease. Later, she was correctly diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, which has similar symptoms to both Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.
Played the same character, Sophia Spirelli Petrillo-Weinstock, on five different TV series: "The Golden Palace" (1992), "The Golden Girls" (1985), "Nurses" (1991), "Empty Nest" (1988), and "Blossom" (1991).
Was a strong supporter of gay rights.
During a brief reunion in November 2004 with "The Golden Girls" (1985)'s Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Beatrice Arthur, it was reported on TV by the ladies that Estelle was suffering from severe dementia.
She had two children with her late husband Arthur Gettleman: sons Carl Gettleman and Barry Gettleman.
Golden Girl Estelle Getty Dead at 84 - Sophia Petrillo
Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 84. Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.
"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents," her son said. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."
"The Golden Girls," featuring four female retirees sharing a house in Miami, grew out of NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's belief that television was ignoring its older viewers.
Three of its stars had already appeared in previous series: Bea Arthur in "Maude," Betty White in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Rue McClanahan in "Mama's Family." The last character to be cast was Sophia Petrillo, the feisty 80-something mother of Arthur's character.
"Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her," Arthur said in a statement.
When she auditioned, Getty was appearing on stage in Hollywood as the carping Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein's play "Torch Song Trilogy." In her early '60s, she flunked her "Golden Girls" test twice because it was believed she didn't look old enough to play 80.
"I could understand that," she told an interviewer a year after the show debuted. "I walk fast, I move fast, I talk fast." She came prepared for the third audition, however, wearing dowdy clothes and telling an NBC makeup artist, "To you this is just a job. To me it's my entire career down the toilet unless you make me look 80." The artist did, Getty got the job and won two Emmys. "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us," White said in an e-mail to The Associated Press after Getty's death was announced. "The Golden Girls" culminated a long struggle for success during which Getty worked low-paying office jobs to help support her family while she tried to make it as a stage actress. "I knew I could be seduced by success in another field, so I'd say, 'Don't promote me, please,'" she recalled. She also appeared in small parts in a handful of films and TV movies during that time, including "Tootsie," "Deadly Force" and "Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story." After her success in "The Golden Girls," other roles came her way. She played Cher's mother in "Mask," Sylvester Stallone's in "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot" and Barry Manilow's in the TV film "Copacabana." Other credits included "Mannequin" and "Stuart Little" (as the voice of Grandma Estelle). "The Golden Girls," which ran from 1985 to 1992, was an immediate hit, and Sophia, who began as a minor character, soon evolved into a major one. Audiences particularly loved the verbal zingers Getty would hurl at the other three. When McClanahan's libidinous character Blanche once complained that her life was an open book, Sophia shot back, "Your life's an open blouse." Getty had gained a knack for one-liners in her late teens when she did standup comedy at a Catskills hotel. Female comedians were rare in those days, however, and she bombed. Undeterred, she continued to pursue a career in entertainment, and while her parents were encouraging, her father also insisted that she learn office skills so she would have something to fall back on. Born Estelle Scher to Polish immigrants in New York, Getty fell in love with theater when she saw a vaudeville show at age 4. She married New York businessman Arthur Gettleman (the source of her stage name) in 1947, and they had two sons, Carl and Barry. The marriage prevailed despite her long absences on the road and in "The Golden Girls." Getty was evasive about her height, acknowledging only that she was "under 5 feet and under 100 pounds." The Internet Movie Database gives her height as 4-feet-9. In addition to her son Carl, Getty is survived by son Barry Gettleman, of Miami, Fla.; a brother, David Scher of London, and a sister, Rosilyn Howard of Las Vegas.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
New content coming soon!
I look forward to giving you top quality funny videos very soon!
Friday, July 4, 2008
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Thursday, May 15, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Teen arrested over video posing senile grandma as gangster
LAKE WORTH, Fla. (AP) - A Florida teenager faces a charge of elder abuse alleging he made his senile grandmother wear a black mask and hold a handgun for a video he made.
Police in Lake Worth, Fla., say the 85-year-old woman is seen and heard on the video threatening to shoot "all the pigs."
Authorities say 18-year-old Michael Alfinez was arrested Monday and charged with abusing an elderly person, discharging a firearm in public and improper exhibition of a dangerous weapon.
Palm Beach County sheriff's detectives seized the video during a traffic stop in January.
The teen's mother says it's all just a misunderstanding.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
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Sunday, February 3, 2008
Kids falling out of ride!!!
Kinda sad! The lady (mom maybe?) doesn't even have a clue it seems that the kid is falling out to his death! WTF? Crazy funny video!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
