Bea Arthur thought Betty White was ‘two-faced’ on set of ‘Golden Girls,’ new book reveals
These girls had a relationship that was less than golden.
Bea Arthur and Betty White’s contentious relationship has been the subject of speculation for decades.
The “Golden Girls” co-stars allegedly had issues when working together on the classic 1980s sitcom.
According to TV screenwriter Stan Zimmerman’s new book “The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore,” Arthur — who died in 2009 — believed White was two-faced.
“During our time on set, I never felt tension between the two,” Zimmerman wrote.
“I only heard stories and recently learned, from producer Marsha Posner Williams on a podcast, that Bea thought Betty was two-faced,” he continued.
Zimmerman was previously a scriptwriter on iconic series such as the “Golden Girls,” “Gilmore Girls” and “Roseanne.”
“Bea liked real people,” he went on. “I had the sense that Betty was more like Sue Ann Nivens, the character she played on ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show,’ than she was like Rose. More conniving than the innocent airhead from St. Olaf.”
Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty also starred alongside White — who passed away at 99 in 2021 — and Arthur in “The Golden Girls.”
Arthur famously played Dorothy Zbornak on the show, while “The Proposal” actress portrayed Rose Nylund.
The NBC series aired from 1985 until 1992 and followed a group of older women who live together in Miami.
Zimmerman recently opened up about his time on set, telling People that he “learned early on from ‘Golden Girls’ that people are much more open to taking in new ideas when they’re laughing.”
He also joked that the “Maude” star could often “shoot a look” flawlessly when filming an intense scene.
“That’s something very few actors could do. Bea Arthur could nail a look, and you knew exactly what she meant,” he recalled.
“All she had to do [was] look at Betty White, and you knew what she was thinking,” he said. “It saved us a lot of time because we didn’t have to think of words.”
Arthur’s son, Matthew Saks, previously spoke on the rumored feud.
“My mom unknowingly carried the attitude that it was fun to have somebody to be angry at,” Saks told Closer in 2017, adding that White became her “nemesis.”
White also touched upon the hospitality between her and Arthur in 2011, telling the Village Voice: “She found me a pain in the neck sometimes. It was my positive attitude — and that made Bea mad sometimes. Sometimes if I was happy, she’d be furious!”
Saks revealed in 2016 that his mother would become annoyed when the “Hot in Cleveland” alum would chat and joke with the studio audience when they would film “Golden Girls.”
“I think my mom didn’t dig that. It’s more about being focused or conserving your energy. It’s just not the right time to talk to fans between takes. Betty was able to do it and it didn’t seem to affect her. But it rubbed my mom the wrong way,” he dished to the Hollywood Reporter at the time.
