‘The Golden Girls’: The Main Character’s Ages, Explained

by

Few TV shows are as cherished as The Golden Girls, which continues to gain new fans even forty years after it first aired. This heartwarming sitcom follows the lives of four single women sharing a house in Miami and enjoying their later years together. The show starred the unforgettable Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty, and ran for seven fantastic seasons, producing 180 episodes. It received widespread recognition, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards and 4 Golden Globes.

The sitcom The Golden Girls centered around three widows and a divorced woman – four friends with very different personalities – sharing a home. What viewers especially loved was seeing older, independent women – Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, and Sophia – enjoying life on their own terms. At a time when women over 40 were rarely featured on television, the show was groundbreaking. It’s also fascinating to consider the ages of the actresses themselves – Estelle Getty, Beatrice Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Betty White – and how those ages compared to the characters they played throughout the show’s seven seasons.

How Old Was Dorothy Zbornak in ‘The Golden Girls’?


NBC

Bea Arthur was famous for her distinctive deep voice and sharp wit, and she played Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls – a divorced mother and substitute teacher. While she could be quick to anger, Dorothy was generally the most level-headed and mature of the four main characters. Before The Golden Girls, Arthur became well-known in the 1970s for her role as Maude Findlay on All in the Family. This led to her own spin-off show, Maude, which ran successfully for six seasons (1972-1978). In The Golden Girls, her character Dorothy leaves her husband after 38 years when she discovers he’s been unfaithful and moves to Miami to start a new life.

During the first season, in the episode “The Competition,” the show established Dorothy’s age as 55. However, Bea Arthur, the actress who played Dorothy, was actually 63 when The Golden Girls first aired in 1985. This meant that by the series finale in 1992, Dorothy would have been 62, while Arthur would have been 70. Bea Arthur won an Emmy Award in 1988 for her portrayal of the witty and strong-willed Dorothy, but she chose not to participate in the spin-off The Golden Palace with the rest of the cast. She sadly passed away in 2009 at the age of 86.

How Old Was Rose Nylund in ‘The Golden Girls’?


NBC

Betty White, a beloved Hollywood icon, enjoyed a long and successful career on television, appearing on countless game shows, sitcoms, and comedy sketches. She broke ground in 1983 by becoming the first woman to win a Daytime Emmy for hosting a game show. Two years later, she created the unforgettable character of Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls. Rose, a cheerful and innocent woman from the Midwest, had been happily married with five children before her husband, Charlie, passed away, prompting her move to Miami to live with her friends.

Rose, known for her kind and naive personality, was frequently the target of jokes, often from Dorothy, who playfully teased her perceived lack of intelligence. It was revealed that Rose was 55 years old, the same age as Dorothy, with her birth year confirmed as 1930 during an episode where she struggled to find new work after leaving her job as a grief counselor. Betty White, who played Rose, was 63 when the show started and 70 when it ended, while her character was 62. Like her fellow cast members, White received a Primetime Emmy Award and continued to be a beloved presence in Hollywood until her passing in 2021 at the age of 99.

How Old Was Blanche Devereaux in ‘The Golden Girls’?


NBC

Blanche Devereaux, a charming and sophisticated woman from a prominent Atlanta family, was married to George and they had five children together before his passing. Actress Rue McClanahan famously played the flirtatious and somewhat self-absorbed Blanche. Interestingly, McClanahan had previously worked with Bea Arthur on two other shows: Maude and Mama’s Family. Both the actress and her character, Blanche, were the youngest of the four main women on the show. McClanahan was 51 years old when the series started, while Blanche was portrayed as 53, aging to 60 by the show’s final season.

Rue McClanahan, like her “Golden Girls” co-stars Betty White and Estelle Getty, later returned as Blanche Devereaux in the brief spin-off series, “The Golden Palace.” It aired for one season – 24 episodes – from 1992 to 1993 before being canceled due to falling ratings. The Emmy-winning actress continued to appear in popular television shows such as “Boy Meets World,” “Murphy Brown,” and “King of the Hill.” In 2005, she played Madame Morrible in the Broadway hit “Wicked.” McClanahan passed away in 2010 at the age of 76.

How Old Was Sophia Petrillo in ‘The Golden Girls’?


NBC

Estelle Getty, who famously played the feisty Sicilian mother Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, was surprisingly younger than her on-screen daughter, Bea Arthur. Getty was 62 when the show premiered in 1985, while her character was 79. Sophia was a direct and clever woman who left Sicily to avoid a forced marriage. She and her husband, Salvadore “Sal” Petrillo, had three children and remained married until Sal’s death from a heart attack. After a stroke, Sophia initially lived at Shady Pines retirement home, but a fire led her to move in with Dorothy, Rose, and Blanche.

To play Sophia, a character who would be 86 years old by the end of the series (with Estelle Getty being 69), the actress used a white wig, lots of makeup, and large glasses. This role was Getty’s first big break on television, and she truly made the most of it, winning an Emmy for her portrayal of the funny and endearing Sophia. She was the only original cast member to continue in main roles through all the show’s iterations – The Golden Girls, The Golden Palace, and Empty Nest. Getty passed away in 2008 at the age of 84.

Read More

2025-11-09 23:20