'Sophia' of Golden Girls Dead at 84

Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia on TV's The Golden Girls, has died. She was 84. The two-time Emmy winner, who suffered from advanced dementia, died this morning at home, her son told the AP.

"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents," her son said. Getty, who was younger than co-stars Bea Arthur—who played her daughter—and Betty White (Rue McClanahan was the fourth) was the last actress added to the cast. She had been rejected twice because she didn't look old enough. (More Estelle Getty stories.)