Golden Girl Beatrice Arthur Dies at 86

Golden Girl Beatrice Arthur died Saturday morning at the age of 86. She had been privately battling cancer.

Beatrice rose to fame playing the original matchmaker in Broadway's Fiddler on the Roof decades before landing the role as Maude in the 1985-1992 NBC Saturday-night staple Golden Girls.

She was described as being very private, shy and sensitive. She was great at what she did, but at 5'9, Bea said "nobody ever asked me to play Juliet" and she abandoned leading lady hopes. But who needs to be a leading lady anyway? Bea was brilliant on Golden Girls.

Golden Girls featured Arthur as the outspoken Dorothy Zbornak, who shared a Florida home with three other women, including her mother, played by Estelle Getty – who died last July, at 84. The other stars were Rue McClanahan and Betty White.

"Bea was such an important part of a very happy time in my life and I have dearly loved her for a very long time," White said in a statement Saturday. "How lucky I was to know her."

Bea headlined an autobiographical show, 2002's Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends. Golden Girl Betty White said,  "To see her get up on that stage and command it as a one-woman show was really mind-boggling."

Bea will truly be missed and we thank her for being a friend for seven Golden years.