Bea Arthur, star of groundbreaking sitcoms Maude and The Golden Girls as well as numerous Broadway shows, has died.  Tall and deep voiced, the actress born Bernice Frankel in New York found success on and off-Broadway for years after studying acting at the New School for Social Research before TV came calling.

One early success was as Lucy Brown in the 1955 production of The Threepenny Opera but it would be in the 1960s that her onstage fame would reach it’s height, winning a Tony in Mame playing Vera Charles, the Patsy to Mame’s Edina.  She had this to say about her early influences:

“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.”

Her television stardom began on Norman Lear‘s taboo-smashing hit All in The Family, locking horns with conservative blowhard Archie Bunker as Edith’s liberal cousin Maude. As with so many supporting characters on that show (ie the Jeffersons), her popularity earned her a spin-off, Maude.

Maude, which had a first season DVD release just last year, rivaled All in The Family in the ratings for the first few years and took on issues like sex ed, abortion, alcoholism and plastic surgery in a way that network television is simply terrified of doing today. More importantly it did so without lapsing into “Very Special Episode” territory.

Arthur’s interplay with Bill Macy as Walter, her husband, and Conrad Bain as Walter’s conservative best friend, was comedy gold. Maude’s kneejerk liberalism was skewered as much as celebrated and Arthur quit after 6 seasons rather than see the show radically altered.

The Golden Girls, her 1980s sitcom with  Rue McClanahan, Betty White, and the late Estelle Getty was groundbreaking in a different way. Daring to show four women who were older than the target demo of most TV advertisers, dishing about sex and life in a way that few shows would touch until Sex and The City, it was a training ground for the creators of the latter program, Arrested Development, and Desperate Housewives. In the process they became icons not just for older Americans but for young women and the gay community. That show too was canceled after a successful run when Arthur announced that she was through.

Arthur would win Emmys for both TV programs.

Bea on the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special:

Bea parodies a show that couldn’t exist without the Golden Girls:

Bea and Rock Hudson in a manly drugs contest:

Aunt Tinky bites the dust on Maude:

A clip from the Golden Girls:

Finally, enjoy this mindblowing Austrian parody of The Golden Girls.