The Golden Girls - Characters

Characters

The series featured four main characters throughout its run, with many other characters recurring throughout all seven seasons.

• Bea Arthur as Dorothy Zbornak, a substitute teacher. Born in Brooklyn, New York City to Italian immigrants Sophia and Salvadore Petrillo, Dorothy became pregnant while still in high school, resulting in a marriage to Stanley Zbornak in order to legitimize the baby. Stan and Dorothy eventually moved to Miami, but divorced after 38 years when Stan left her for a young flight attendant. Their marriage produced two children, Kate and Michael. In the series' finale episode, Dorothy marries Blanche's uncle, Lucas Hollingsworth, and relocates to Atlanta, Georgia.

• Betty White as Rose Nylund, a Norwegian-American from the small farming town of St. Olaf, Minnesota. Known for her humorously peculiar stories of life growing up in her hometown, Rose was married to Charlie Nylund, with whom she had five children. Upon Charlie's death, she moved to Miami to work at a grief counseling center, though she later ended up as the assistant to a consumer reporter ("Enrique Mas") at a local TV station. In later seasons, Rose became romantically involved with college professor Miles Webber, until he was relocated by the Federal Witness Protection Program.

• Rue McClanahan as Blanche Devereaux, a Southern belle, employed at an art museum. Born into a wealthy family, Blanche grew up as the apple of her father's eye on a plantation outside of Atlanta, Georgia, prior to her relocation to Miami, where she lived with her late husband George. Their marriage produced six children: four sons and two daughters. A widow, Blanche was portrayed as man-hungry, and she clearly had the most male admirers—and stories detailing various sexual encounters—over the course of the series.

• Estelle Getty as Sophia Petrillo, Dorothy's mother. Born in Palermo, Sicily, Sophia moved to New York after fleeing an arranged marriage to Guido Spirelli. She later married Salvadore Petrillo, with whom she had three children, Dorothy, Gloria & Phil who later dies of a heart attack(Season 6, Episode 12: Ebbtide's Revenge). Initially a resident in the Shady Pines Retirement Home after having a stroke prior to the start of the series, she moved in with Blanche, Rose and Dorothy following a fire at the institution. During the series' run, Sophia married Max Weinstock, but they soon separated. Throughout the series, she held a few part-time jobs mostly involving food, including fast-food worker and entrepreneur of spaghetti sauce and homemade sandwiches.