Monday, April 27, 2009

R.I.P. Bea

Maude and Golden Girls star Bea Arthur passed away over the weekend.

A family spokesman told AP the Emmy and Tony Award winner had cancer, and died peacefully at her home in Los Angeles. Arthur was 86.

I met Bea Arthur once a few years ago when she hosted opening night of the Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. She had such...presence, you know. It was a true honor to shake her hand, for she’d made me laugh so much over the years.

She wasn’t the cuddly type (at least not with this perfect-stranger fan), but she was delightful and friendly and warm.

The world’s a little less bright now without her…a little less golden, indeed. But it remains a lot better for having had Arthur in it.

Click here to read some of her friends and colleagues’ reaction (including Betty White’s) to this sad news.

Photo: InsideSoCal.com.

Update: Click here to read a remembrance by Rue McClanahan.

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