Beatrice Arthur - Biography

Last Editor: rkpeterson				Beatrice Arthur Biography -   Name : Beatrice Arthur Profession : Actor Born : Bernice Frankel May 13, 1922 (1922-05-13) (age 86) New York City, New York, USA Occupation : Actor Years active : 1940s-present Spouse(s) : Robert Alan Aurthur Gene Saks (1950-1978) Date of Death : 25 April 2009 Place of Death : Los Angeles, California, USA

Beatrice Arthur Trivia -

Beatrice  won an award of achievement from Emerson College's Musical Theater Society, in Boston, in the spring of 2000. Survived by two sons, Matthew Saks (born July 14, 1961) and Daniel Saks (born May 8, 1964). She was best friends with Angela Lansbury, since appearing together in "Mame". A friendship she spoke fondly of in her one-woman show. She did not like to watch her own performances on television or film. Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith. pg. 29-30. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387 In 1966, she won a Tony Award as Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Vera Charles in "Mame" a part she recreated in the film version of the same name, Mame (1974). Her series "Maude" (1972) and "The Golden Girls" (1985) were both canceled because Bea left them. She was a qualified medical technician. Once appeared on "Judge Judy" (1996) as a witness for a defendant who was involved in the animal rights organization PETA. The defendant won. In 2002, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for her one-woman show "Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends". According to a television interview, Arthur claimed that her start in comedy came when she was only a lounge singer. Apparently, when she got up on stage to sing torch songs, the audience would laugh at her because of her deep voice and her height. The nightclub manager then approached her and told her she was in the wrong business. She should be doing comedy instead. She served in the United States Marine Corps. Considered "Amanda's" (1983) and an episode of "Saturday Night Live" (1975) as her worst career experiences. Her first real name, Bernice, is pronounced like Bur-ness. Best known by the public for her starring roles as the title character in "Maude" (1972) and as Dorothy Zbornak in "The Golden Girls" (1985). Her mother, Rebecca Frankel, died in 1986. Her former "Maude" (1972) co-star, Adrienne Barbeau, was reunited with her on "The View" (1997), in 2007. Arthur was one of the first women to become an active-duty United States Marine. She volunteered and served during World War II. She is survived by two granddaughters. Arthur died at her home in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the early morning hours of April 25, 2009, aged 86. She had been suffering from cancer

Beatrice Arthur Detailed Biography -

Beatrice “Bea” Arthur (born May 13, 1922) is an American comedian, actress and singer. In an ongoing career spanning six decades, Arthur is perhaps best remembered for her trademark role as the title character, Maude Findlay, on the 1970s sitcom Maude, and for playing Dorothy Zbornak, a divorced substitute teacher on The Golden Girls. Arthur was born Bernice Frankel to Philip and Rebecca Frankel in New York City on May 13, 1922. Her family soon moved to Maryland where her parents operated a women's clothing shop. She attended the now-defunct Blackstone College in Blackstone, Virginia where she was active in drama productions. Arthur began her acting career as a member of an off Broadway theater group at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City in the late 1940s. On stage, her roles included "Lucy Brown" in the 1954 off-broadway premiere of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, "Yente the Matchmaker" in the 1964 premiere of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, and a 1966 Tony Award-winning portrayal of "Vera Charles" to Angela Lansbury's Mame. She reprised the role in the unsuccessful 1974 film version opposite Lucille Ball. In 1981, she appeared in Woody Allen's The Floating Lightbulb. In 1972, Arthur was cast as the title character in the television series Maude. She played Maude Findlay, an outspoken liberal living in the affluent community of Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York, with her husband, Walter (Bill Macy) and divorced daughter Carol (Adrienne Barbeau). The show was a spinoff from All in the Family, on which Arthur had appeared a couple of times in the same role, playing Edith Bunker's (Jean Stapleton)'s cousin, a feminist, and antithesis to the bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor), who described Maude as a "New Deal fanatic." In 1985, she was cast in the television series The Golden Girls on which she played Dorothy Zbornak, a divorced substitute teacher living in a Miami, Florida home owned by Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). Her other roommates included widow Rose Nylund (Betty White) and Dorothy's Sicilian mother, Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). Getty was actually a year younger than Arthur in real life, and was heavily made up to look significantly older. Dorothy had an caustic sense of humor and was prone to making witty and sarcastic wisecracks, often directed at the man-hungry Blanche or naive Rose. Arthur accepting the TV Land Award for Popular Culture on behalf of The Golden Girls After Arthur left The Golden Girls, she has made several guest appearances on television shows and even organized and toured with her one-woman show. She made a guest appearance on American cartoon Futurama, in the Emmy-nominated episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" as the voice of the Femputer who ruled the giant Amazonian women. She appeared in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle as Dewey's babysitter who possessed an unfortunate harmony with Dewey's likes and dislikes. She was nominated for a guest-star Emmy for her performance. She also showed up unexpectedly as Larry David's mother on Curb Your Enthusiasm. In 2002, she made a triumphant return to Broadway starring in Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, a collection of stories and songs (with musician Billy Goldenberg) and based on her life and long career. The show was nominated for a Tony award for Best Special Theatrical Event, but lost to Elaine Stritch At Liberty. Arthur was inducted into Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2008. On June 8, 2008, The Golden Girls was awarded the 'Pop Culture' award at the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards. Bea accepted the award with co-stars Rue McClanahan and Betty White. Arthur was married twice, first to Robert Alan Aurthur, an author, whose surname she took and kept though with a modified spelling, and second to director Gene Saks from 1950-1978 with whom she adopted two sons, Matthew (born 14 July 1961), an actor and Daniel (born 8 May 1964), a set designer. She primarily lives in the Greater Los Angeles Area and has sublet her apartment on Central Park West in New York City and her country home in Bedford, New York. She has one living sister who lives in Montreal, Quebec. Arthur died at her home in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the early morning hours of April 25, 2009, aged 86. She had been suffering from cancer