‘Golden Girls’ producer recalls nasty Betty White-Bea Arthur feud

Bea Arthur and Betty White were not friends – they simply played them on television.

During a recent Gilded girls Discussion in full swing at The Pride Live! The Hollywood Festival, several key characters who worked behind the scenes of the beloved sitcom have discussed their memories of legendary actors – and the co -producer Marsha Posner Williams insisted that the actresses behind Dorothy Zbornak and Rose Nylund did not work.

“When this red light was lit [and the show was filming]There were no more professionals than these women, “said Williams about Arthur and White, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “But when the red light was turned off, these two could not warm up if they were cremated together.”

Williams said that Arthur, who died in 2009, used “the word C” more than one opportunity to refer to White, who died in 2021 “.[Arthur] I’m used to calling myself at home and saying: “I just run [c‑‑t] to the grocery store. I’m going to write a letter to her, “she remembers. “And I said,” Bea, “she comes from him to cry aloud. Outstanding just. ‘”

Williams also said that when she and her husband went to Arthur for dinner, “within 30 seconds after walking in the door, the word it came out.”

Casting director Joel Thurm, who was also part of the panel, previously recalled that Arthur had used the same language during the White discussion. “Bea Arthur, whom I threw in something else later, I just said:” Oh, she was AF – ING C – T “Using this word,” he said in an episode in 2022 of the podcast The Originals. “She called it the word C. I mean, I heard that with my own ears.”

Elsewhere in the panel, Williams said that Arthur despised the way White was heading while recording the show. “Betty would break the character in the middle of the show [and talk to the live audience]”She said.” And Bea hated that. “”

Williams also said that Arthur was the only Holdout that prevented the show from continuing beyond its seven seasons race, which lasted from 1985 to 1992. “The show would have continued after seven years,” said the co-producer.

Register Weekly entertainment Free daily newsletter for television information, the first exclusive looks, summary, criticism, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

“Their contracts were in place and … the leaders went to the ladies and Estelle [Getty] said: “Yes, let’s continue” and street [McClanahan] said: “Yes, let’s continue”, and Betty said: “Yes, let’s continue”. And Bea said, “No sense F——-“, and that is why this show did not continue. “”

Gilded girls The writer Stan Zimmerman previously wrote that Williams said that Arthur “thought Betty was two sides” when they worked together. “Bea loved real people,” Zimmerman wrote in his book Girls: from Golden to Gilmore. “I had the feeling that Betty looked more like Sue Ann Nivens, the character on which she played The Mary Tyler Moore showthat she was like pink. More accomplice than the Saint-Olaf Airhead Innocent. “”