Estelle Getty Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Estelle Getty
OCCUPATION: Film Actress, Theater Actress, Television Actress
BIRTH DATE: July 25, 1923
DEATH DATE: July 22, 2008
PLACE OF BIRTH: New York, New York
PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California
Originally: Estelle Scher

Best Known For

Estelle Getty played Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, and was one of television’s most popular comedic actresses of the 1980s.

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Estelle Getty

APA Style

Estelle Getty. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 01:32, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815.

Harvard Style

Estelle Getty. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815 [Accessed 21 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Estelle Getty." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 01:32 http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815.

MHRA Style

"Estelle Getty," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815 [accessed May 21, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Estelle Getty," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815 (accessed May 21, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Estelle Getty [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815.

Bluebook Style

Estelle Getty, http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815 (last visited May 21, 2013).

AMA Style

Estelle Getty. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/estelle-getty-262815. Accessed May 21, 2013.

During the run of the show, Getty found time for other projects, but none were as successful. She appeared with Andrew McCarthy in the comedy Mannequin (1987). Getty later co-starred with Sylvester Stallone in the box office bomb, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992),

playing the titular mother.

After The Golden Girls ended in 1992, some of the show's characters were featured on The Golden Palace. In this new version, Getty's character, along with McClannan's and White's, buy a Miami hotel together. The show suffered from the absence of Bea Arthur and lacked the magic of the original. It only lasted one season.

Final Years

Continuing to work, Getty appeared on such shows as Touched by an Angel and Mad About You. One of her later roles was Grandma Estelle Little in the popular children's film Stuart Little (1999). She retired from acting in 2000 for health reasons. Originally thought to have Parkinson's disease, Getty was later diagnosed with a form of dementia. With some assistance, she lived at her home in Los Angeles for many years until her death at age 84. She died of natural causes on the morning of July 22, 2008, surrounded by family and friends.

At the time of her death, several of her former co-stars expressed their sadness over Getty's passing. "Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her," Bea Arthur said, according to US magazine. "The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us," Betty White told US.

Getty is survived by her two sons. Her son Carl told People magazine that his mother "was loved throughout the world. . . . She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."