Bea Arthur

Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel on May 13, 1923), is an American actress and comedienne.

Her notable television roles include the title role on the popular sitcom Maude in the 1970s and a co-starring role on The Golden Girls in the 1980s. In the former she played Maude Findlay, an outspoken liberal living in Westchester County, New York. In the latter she played the character Dorothy Zbornak, a middle-aged woman who lived in a Florida house with two room mates (Betty White and Rue McClanahan) and Dorothy's short-tempered yet hip old mother, played by Estelle Getty.

On stage, her roles include Lucy Brown in the 1954 Off-Broadway premiere of The 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 in Mame. In 1981, she appeared in Woody Allen's