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.

Natasha Richardson with her mother, Vanessa Redgrave

Sad news tonight on actress Natasha Richardson who succumbed to her head injuries sustained in a skiing accident. Tony-award winning Richardson appeared in many films such as The Handmaid’s Tale and the re-make of The Parent Trap but Hollywood never really knew what to do with her.

The stage however, was where she bloomed, playing some of the most iconic parts available to wide acclaim. From Anna Christie in which she was paired with her husband Liam Neeson, to her award winning turn as Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Broadway was her oyster. In London she was equally feted for her work in The Seagull and as Ophelia in Hamlet.

In life she was surrounded by the creativity beginning with her mother, legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave and father the director Tony Richardson, her aunt Lynn Redgrave, and her sister Joely Richardson as well as her husband.

Her she is on Charlie Rose in 1998:

Margaret Truman, the only child of President Harry S Truman, died today. She was best known for her mystery novels set in Washington D.C. such as Murder in The White House. To an earlier generation it was her singing career that made her infamous and put her father in the headlines. From the New York Times obit by Lawrenece Van Gelder:

Paul Hume, the music critic of The Washington Post, while praising her personality, said that “she cannot sing very well,” added that “she is flat a good deal of the time” and concluded that she had no “professional finish.”
Incensed, President Truman dispatched a combative note to Mr. Hume, who released it to the press.. It said, in part, “I have just read your lousy review . . . I have never met you, but if I do, you’ll need a new nose.”
In the ensuing uproar, reporters pressed Mrs. Daniel for her reaction to her father’s letter. “I’m glad to see that chivalry is not dead,” she told them.
In “Harry S. Truman,” she wrote: “Dad discussed the letter with his aides and was annoyed to find that they all thought it was a mistake. They felt that it damaged his image as president and would only add to his political difficulties. ‘Wait till the mail comes in,’ Dad said. ‘I’ll make you a bet that 80 percent of it is on my side of the argument.’
“A week later, after a staff meeting, Dad ordered everybody to follow him, and they marched to the mail room. The clerks had stacked up thousands of ‘Hume’ letters received in piles and made up a chart showing the percentages for and against the President. Slightly over 80 percent favored Dad’s defense of me. Most of the letter writers were mothers who said they understood exactly how Dad felt and would have expected their husbands to defend their daughters the same way. ‘The trouble with you guys is,’ Dad said to the staff as he strode back to work, ‘you just don’t understand human nature.’ ”

It’s interesting to reflect on this incident in light of the criticism President Clinton is facing currently while stumping for his wife on the campaign trail.