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Bea Arthur, Star of ‘Maude,’ Dies
Filed at 3:55 p.m. ET
LOS
ANGELES (AP) -- Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose
razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit
shows ''Maude'' and ''The Golden Girls'' and who won a Tony Award for the musical ''Mame,'' died Saturday. She was 86.
Arthur
died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side,
family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to
give further details.
''She was a brilliant and witty woman,''
said Watt, who was Arthur's personal assistant for six years. ''Bea
will always have a special place in my heart.''
Arthur first
appeared in the landmark comedy series ''All in the Family'' as Edith
Bunker's loudly outspoken, liberal cousin, Maude Finley. She proved a
perfect foil for blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), and their blistering exchanges were so entertaining that producer Norman Lear fashioned Arthur's own series.
In
a 2008 interview with The Associated Press, Arthur said she was lucky
to be discovered by TV after a long stage career, recalling with
bemusement CBS executives asking about the new ''girl.''
''I was
already 50 years old. I had done so much off-Broadway, on Broadway, but
they said, `Who is that girl? Let's give her her own series,''' Arthur
said.
''Maude'' scored with television viewers immediately on its
CBS debut in September 1972, and Arthur won an Emmy Award for the role
in 1977.
The comedy flowed from Maude's efforts to cast off the
traditional restraints that women faced, but the series often had a
serious base. Her husband Walter (Bill Macy) became an alcoholic, and
she underwent an abortion, which drew a torrent of viewer protests.
Maude became a standard bearer for the growing feminist movement in
America.
The ratings of ''Maude'' in the early years approached
those of its parent, ''All in the Family,'' but by 1977 the audience
started to dwindle. A major format change was planned, but in early
1978 Arthur announced she was quitting the show.
''It's been
absolutely glorious; I've loved every minute of it,'' she said. ''But
it's been six years, and I think it's time to leave.''
''Golden
Girls'' (1985-1992) was another groundbreaking comedy, finding
surprising success in a television market increasingly skewed toward a
younger, product-buying audience.
The series concerned three retirees -- Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan -- and the mother of Arthur's character, Estelle Getty, who lived together in a Miami apartment. In contrast to the violent ''Miami Vice,'' the comedy was nicknamed ''Miami Nice.''
As
Dorothy Zbornak, Arthur seemed as caustic and domineering as Maude. She
was unconcerned about the similarity of the two roles. ''Look -- I'm
5-feet-9, I have a deep voice and I have a way with a line,'' she told
an interviewer. ''What can I do about it? I can't stay home waiting for
something different. I think it's a total waste of energy worrying
about typecasting.''
The interplay among the four women and their
relations with men fueled the comedy, and the show amassed a big
audience and 10 Emmys, including two as best comedy series and
individual awards for each of the stars.
In 1992, Arthur
announced she was leaving ''Golden Girls.'' The three other stars
returned in ''The Golden Palace,'' but it lasted only one season.
Arthur
was born Bernice Frankel in New York City in 1922. When she was 11, her
family moved to Cambridge, Md., where her father opened a clothing
store. At 12 she had grown to full height, and she dreamed of being a
petite blond movie star like June Allyson. There was one advantage of being tall and deep-voiced: She was chosen for the male roles in school plays.
Bernice
-- she hated the name and adopted her mother's nickname of Bea --
overcame shyness about her size by winning over her classmates with
wisecracks. She was elected the wittiest girl in her class. After two
years at a junior college in Virginia, she earned a degree as a medical
lab technician, but she ''loathed'' doing lab work at a hospital.
Acting held more appeal, and she enrolled in a drama course at the New School of Social Research in New York City. To support herself, she sang in a
night spot that required her to push drinks on customers.
During
this time she had a brief marriage that provided her stage name of
Beatrice Arthur. In 1950, she married again, to Broadway actor and
future Tony-winning director Gene Saks.
After
a few years in off-Broadway and stock company plays and television
dramas, Arthur's career gathered momentum with her role as Lucy Brown
in the 1955 production of ''The Threepenny Opera.''
In 2008, when
Arthur was inducted in the TV Academy Hall of Fame, Arthur pointed to
the role as the highlight of her long career.
''A lot of that had to do with the fact that I felt, `Ah, yes, I belong here,''' Arthur said.
More plays and musicals followed, and she also sang in nightclubs and played small roles in TV comedy shows.
Then, in 1964, Harold Prince cast her as Yente the Matchmaker in the original company of ''Fiddler on the Roof.''
Arthur's biggest Broadway triumph came in 1966 as Vera Charles, Angela Lansbury's acerbic friend in the musical ''Mame,'' directed by Saks. Richard Watts
of the New York Post called her performance ''a portrait in acid of a
savagely witty, cynical and serpent-tongued woman.''
She won the
Tony as best supporting actress and repeated the role in the
unsuccessful film version that also was directed by Saks, starring Lucille Ball as Mame. Arthur would play a variation of Vera Charles in ''Maude'' and ''The Golden Girls.''
In 1983, Arthur attempted another series, ''Amanda's,'' an Americanized version of John Cleese's hilarious ''Fawlty Towers.'' She was cast as owner of a small seaside
hotel with a staff of eccentrics. It lasted a mere nine episodes.
Between
series, Arthur remained active in films and theater. Among the movies:
''That Kind of Woman'' (1959), ''Lovers and Other Strangers'' (1970), Mel Brooks' ''The History of the World: Part I'' (1981), ''For Better or Worse'' (1995).
The plays included Woody Allen's ''The Floating Light Bulb'' and ''The Bermuda Avenue Triangle,'' written by and costarring Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna. During 2001 and 2002 she toured the country in a one-woman show of songs and stories, ''... And Then There's Bea.''
Arthur
and Saks divorced in 1978 after 28 years. They had two sons, Matthew
and Daniel. In his long career, Saks won Tonys for ''I Love My Wife,''
''Brighton Beach Memoirs'' and ''Biloxi Blues.'' One of his Tony
nominations was for ''Mame.''
In 1999, Arthur told an interviewer of the three influences in her career: ''Sid Caesar taught me the outrageous; (method acting guru) Lee Strasberg taught me what I call reality; and ('Threepenny Opera' star) Lotte Lenya, whom I adored, taught me economy.''
In
recent years, Arthur made guest appearances on shows including ''Curb
Your Enthusiasm'' and ''Malcolm in the Middle.'' She was chairwoman of
the Art Attack Foundation, a non-profit performing arts scholarship
organization.
Arthur is survived by her sons and two granddaughters. No funeral services are planned.
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