I was in San Francisco when the beloved, unique and very talented comedic actress Beatrice Arthur died. I heard about it on the tram where a group of teenagers were discussing it sadly. Yes, teenagers! I do believe that San Francisco may well be the only place in the world where teenagers know who Bea Arthur is/was. Later that afternoon I was walking down Valencia Street and saw a beautiful picture of Miss Arthur, from her Maude era, displayed in a shop window - no tacky "in memory of" poems, just a simple photograph. What a classy town this can be.And as for Miss Arthur - what a tremendous talent! I loved her in Maude, and I loved her in The Golden Girls. I never saw her on stage but I do have a CD of her live show from a few years back and she is marvelous.
A few years ago I read an interview with her where she said she had no idea why Golden Girls was shown on TV repeats so much more frequently than the more confrontational and political Maude (of which only the first season has been released on DVD), but she thought that Maude would do the world a lot more good if it was rerun. I agree with her. Maude was a wonderful role model, and of course her portrayer will be forever loved.
