Golden Girls Star Passes Away

July 23, 2008 World Screen

LOS ANGELES, July 23:
Estelle Getty, who played Sophia on The Golden Girls, the hit sitcom that ran on NBC from 1985 to 1992,
passed away early yesterday. She was 84.

Getty passed away at her
home in Los Angeles, according to wire reports. She was reportedly suffering
from advanced dementia.

"Our mother-daughter
relationship was one of the greatest comic duos ever, and I will miss
her," Golden Girls co-star
Bea Arthur said in a statement.

"The only comfort at
this moment is that although Estelle has moved on, Sophia will always be with
us,” fellow co-star Betty White said in an e-mail to the Associated Press.

Getty is best known for
her seven-year stint on The Golden Girls, but her career also included roles in the movies Mask and Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, among others.

—By Mansha Daswani