Estelle Getty, the diminutive actress who spent 40 years struggling for success before landing a role of a lifetime in 1985 as the sarcastic octogenarian Sophia Petrillo on TV’s The Golden Girls, has died. She was 84.
She was born Estelle Scher to Polish Jewish immigrants who worked in the glass business. Getty got her start in the
Yiddish theater
and also as a comedienne in the Catskills borscht belt resorts, and her most important stage role was playing Harvey Fierstein’s mother on Broadway in the play
Torch Song Trilogy
. (MORE)
