...we lost Bea Arthur today, and here is an actress/comedienne who I grew tremendously affectionate to during the 80s when, as a teenager and in my early twenties, I fell madly in love with The Golden Girls.
Bea Arthur played the tall and down trodden Dorothy, daughter of the hilariously grumpy Sophia, who stole almost every scene she was in. But Dorothy and Sophia together were a team made in heaven, and along with the wonderfully slutty Blanche and the dimwitted yet adorable Rose, made for funny television every Thursday Night (I think it was Thursday)
Affection is something we can throw out there into the world with tons to spare, and characters in TV shows, movies, radio performers, and characters in books are some of the non-entities we actually form affectionate attachments to all the time.
I loved Dorothy because I related to her in so many ways. I was young, but in almost all other ways she and I were alike. She was awkward, and lonely, and she had a mother who more often than not stood in her way with good intentions. I felt for her and at the same time was envious of her because she had a relationship with her father that she remembered with tremendous fondness.
I loved Bea Arthur because she brought the character to life in a way no one else could have, and it made me laugh all the time.
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