In this Aug. 28, 1998 file photo, actress Estelle Getty displays the Emmy she won at the 40th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in Pasadena, Calif. Getty won best supporting actress in a comedy series for her role in "The Golden Girls." Getty has died at the age of 84. Her son, Carl Gettleman, says she died early Tuesday at home in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, file)
Estelle Getty of 'Golden Girls' dies at 84
LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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.
Getty, who suffered from advanced dementia, died at about 5:30 a.m. Tuesday at her Hollywood Boulevard home, said her son, Carl Gettleman of Santa Monica.
"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. "She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived."
"The Golden Girls," featuring four female retirees sharing a house in Miami, grew out of NBC programming chief Brandon Tartikoff's belief that television was ignoring its older viewers.
Three of its stars had already appeared in previous series: Bea Arthur in "Maude," Betty White in "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and Rue McClanahan in "Mama's Family." The last character to be cast was Sophia Petrillo, the feisty 80-something mother of Arthur's character.
"Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her," Arthur said in a statement.
When she auditioned, Getty was appearing on stage in Hollywood as the carping Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein's play "Torch Song Trilogy." In her early 60s, she flunked her "Golden Girls" test twice because it was believed she didn't look old enough to play 80.
"I could understand that," she told an interviewer a year after the show debuted. "I walk fast, I move fast, I talk fast."
She came prepared for the third audition, however, wearing dowdy clothes and telling an NBC makeup artist, "To you this is just a job. To me it's my entire career down the toilet unless you make me look 80." The artist did, Getty got the job and won two Emmys.
"The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us," White said in an e-mail to The Associated Press after Getty's death was announced.
"The Golden Girls" culminated a long struggle for success during which Getty worked low-paying office jobs to help support her family while she tried to make it as a stage actress.
"I knew I could be seduced by success in another field, so I'd say, 'Don't promote me, please,'" she recalled.
She also appeared in small parts in a handful of films and TV movies during that time, including "Tootsie," "Deadly Force" and "Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story."
After her success in "The Golden Girls," other roles came her way. She played Cher's mother in "Mask," Sylvester Stallone's in "Stop or My Mom Will Shoot" and Barry Manilow's in the TV film "Copacabana." Other credits included "Mannequin" and "Stuart Little" (as the voice of Grandma Estelle).
"The Golden Girls," which ran from 1985 to 1992, was an immediate hit, and Sophia, who began as a minor character, soon evolved into a major one.
Audiences particularly loved the verbal zingers Getty would hurl at the other three. When McClanahan's libidinous character Blanche once complained that her life was an open book, Sophia shot back, "Your life's an open blouse."
Getty had gained a knack for one-liners in her late teens when she did standup comedy at a Catskills hotel. Female comedians were rare in those days, however, and she bombed.
Undeterred, she continued to pursue a career in entertainment, and while her parents were encouraging, her father also insisted that she learn office skills so she would have something to fall back on.
Born Estelle Scher to Polish immigrants in New York, Getty fell in love with theater when she saw a vaudeville show at age 4.
She married New York businessman Arthur Gettleman (the source of her stage name) in 1947, and they had two sons, Carl and Barry. The marriage prevailed despite her long absences on the road and in "The Golden Girls."
Getty was evasive about her height, acknowledging only that she was "under 5 feet and under 100 pounds."
In addition to her son Carl, Getty is survived by son Barry Gettleman, of Miami; a brother, David Scher of London; and a sister, Rosilyn Howard of Las Vegas.
Associated Press Writers Robert Jablon and Solvej Schou contributed to this report.
Getty at the 41st Emmy Awards. 
Emmy Award winning American actress Estelle Getty has died at the age of 84. Getty had been previously diagnosed with dementia which had been in its advanced stages. She died while at her home in Hollywood, California early Tuesday morning.

"She was loved throughout the world in six continents, and if they loved sitcoms in Antarctica she would have been loved on seven continents. She was one of the most talented comedic actresses who ever lived," said her son Carl Gettleman.

Getty was probably most famous for her starring role as ''Sophia Petrillo'' in the American television show ''The Golden Girls'' where she co-starred with actresses Bea Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan. It ran from 1985 until 1992 having aired 180 episodes, and was an immediate success. In 1986, Getty was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, winning one, for her role in the show for "Actress In A Supporting Role - Series, Mini-Series Or Television Movie" and "Actress In A Leading Role - Musical Or Comedy Series".  Ironically, though she played the oldest of the four roommates, and the mother of Arthur's character, Dorothy Zbornak, she was actually younger than Arthur or White.

"Our mother-daughter relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss her," stated Arthur in a statement to the press.

"The only comfort at this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with us," said White to the ''Associated Press.

Getty also starred in several movies after the show including ''Mask'' where she played the mother of singer and song writer Cher and ''Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot'' where she also played the mother of actor Sylvester Stallone. She also starred in the television show spin off of ''The Golden Girls'' titled ''The Golden Palace'' and made a two episode appearance on another spin off called ''Empty Nest''.

Getty was born in New York City on July 25, 1923, passing away just three days before her 85th birthday.