Estelle Getty

Estelle Getty, the actress who spent decades struggling in obscurity before becoming an overnight star as a salty, back-talking grandmother in the hit sitcom "Golden Girls," died July 22, 2008, at her home on Hollywood Boulevard at the age of 84. She had been suffering from advanced dementia. Ms. Getty played the sarcastic, fast-talking mother of Bea Arthur's character on "The Golden Girls," the sitcom about four female retirees who share a house. Though the three other actresses — Arthur, Betty White and Rue McClanahan — were far more established, Ms. Getty's nonstop barrage of peppy, often- off-color zingers quickly grabbed viewers' attention. Much was made in the press of the fact that, though she played an octogenarian, she was actually more than a year younger than Arthur.