Bea Arthur, Beloved Gay Icon, 1922-2009

As a very young gay boy in the 70s I was fascinated and intimidated by this tall, striking, strong woman with the deep voice, ripping everyone with her biting one liners. 8 year or so later, she was back, looking thinner, a little pulled back (but in a good way), but still with the voice and the biting one liners. She took the took the "strong woman we love" gay icon to another level for me.

I am very, very saddened by this news. I saw her 6(?) or so years ago in her one woman show on broadway and I had very close seats. It was a thrill to see her live in person. Bea Arther, Maude, Dorothy, Vera Charles, you will be missed in this gay man's heart. I am sorry to get all sappy on ya'll but I really loved Bea Arthur.

Heywoodjablome

@ShanghaiLil:

Not weird.
Characters.
Originals.
Creative.

Charlotte Rae's Web

These 2 Bea-related videos MUST be added!

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@Owen Thomas: Not necessarily the loudest, but most definitely the classiest. Well done Richard, YOU should have written this article.

I saw her one woman show ('...and then there's Bea') years ago in Galveston, TX. It was a real treat and Bea was a wonderful anecdotist..even more so as she told the largely geratric, (and likely Republican) matinee audience story after pro-gay story from her years in the biz. Bea obviously took great glee from her center stage perch in watching them noisily shuffle out in DROVES.

It was VERY Maude.

Hazelsdad

@missmargo: ...and later, the Rusty Anchor for a drink!

Dreamdate

@Hydroceph: Even my five year old boy loved this show, reminded him of his outrageous grandmother and great aunts.

Dreamdate

I met Bea Arthur when she was on Golden Girls. Met her a few times, in fact. What struck me was her complete elegance, and the fact that she was soft spoken and pretty shy.

May she rest in peace. Wonderful talent. A life well lived.

@Owen Thomas: Dude. Seriously with this?

@AjaxNangerini: I watched Maude as a little girl. I believe Bea is the patron saint of feminists.

Queen of the Passive Aggressives

God'll get you for that photo, Wally Fong...

PandoraSpocks

she was one of the great performers of our time-
thanks for all the laughs- you'll live on and keep entertaining us all in re-runs-

budy920

Betty White is infamous as THE biggest c*nt in Hollywood. I know makeup people and crew members etc etc who say, "NEVER AGAIN," as far as working with her

dell123

@JudyPaceFace: Wow. I had forgotten all about Designing Women!

Maude with extended opening credits:

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Oh! A BULLSHIT artist! Did you bullshit this week? Did you *TRY* to bullshit this week?

friendlynerd

@Sauvignon Blancalot: A friend of mine reports having conducted a long interview with her in the lobby of the Four Seasons, during which she drank continuously and extensively until she reached the point of announcing in her loudest voice, "And so the Director made me call Betty White at two in the morning and apologize for calling her a cunt on the set!"

ShanghaiLil

@Richard Lawson: Totally agreed, but remember, we still have Carol Channing from that generation of people who could become famous in part because they were so freakin' weird!

ShanghaiLil

@Richard Lawson: Eloquently expressed. Thanks.

souldecirce

as an art historian, and Bea Arthur fan, i have to note that the "Virgin Dorothy mashup" shown above is not actually Bea's face photoshopped into an image of the the Virgin Mary, but into an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Which brings an interesting new level to the statements about female impersonators loving Bea.

TertiaElephenor

I just heard the story of my good (and flamboyant) friend David at a party with open arms, running up to his idol Bea Arthur -she quickly turned, pointed a finger at him -and said "No!" Exactly what you would expect! We'll miss ya!

@Baroness: It's hard to imagine we used to have real political debate of tv sitcoms...

cdmunch

@Richard Lawson: Jesus. That should be part of her obituary in the N.Y.T.

@mcbeachy: "mcbeachy has no friends."

@Richard Lawson: See, I said the gays would mourn her the loudest!

I was with a gaggle of gays when this news broke, and there was much texting and frippering and tears and such. But really what her passing means to me is that we've lost another of that fading generation of entertainers who were, well, just that. Entertainers. Bea acted, she sang, she sorta danced, but really she was just this whole entire package, this portrayer of people, this communicator of stony old weirdo thoughts that theatre writers (and TV writers) dreamed up in their lonely hearts.

And we have a few of those people still, young ones even--like Jane Krakowski and Kristin Chenoweth and, um, Antonio Banderas?--but Bea is just another of that old guard to fleet this earth, an old vet of a showbiz world that was more show than biz. And that's sad. Sure it's a bigger, more important thing to be losing our WWII vets and Holocaust survivors in handfuls, but there's still something to be mourned in this. A vanguard. A tradition that's fading.

So, a glass to you Ms. Bea. What you knew how to do we--gay, straight, whatever!--can only hope to imitate.

She was on two ground breaking TV shows. The Golden Girls model has been recycled dozens of times (not just in sex and the city). And allowed talented writers like Mitch Hurtwitz and Marc cherry to break there teeth in. Maude was a feminist icon and she gave us Good Times.

She was hilarious and talented. But more than that she had dignity and presence. She lived her life the way she wanted. And, unlike her Golden Girls co-stars,knew when to end a good thing. A role model for everyone gay or straight. Male or female. And Hollywood would be a better place if more stars were like her.

Cheruth

@allyzay -- I totally agree. And I gotta say, Owen, how old are you? Doesn't seem like anyone hits as many wrong notes as you do on this site.... and I've been reading it since the beginning.

mcbeachy

@allyzay: This is what I wanted to say. I'm gay and have no experience with her whatsoever, but calling her Bea Arthur the GAY icon mourned by TEH GAYS and loved forever by TEH GAY PEEPS is kind of rude, no matter what the sexuality of the original poster.

spitneybeers

A real, old fashioned trouper.
If you don't like her stuff, you don't like show biz.

Wonderful Lady. Sad day indeed.

RIP.

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