View Full Version : Bea Arthur Remembered at R-Rated Tribute


Brian Damage
09-15-2009, 08:11 AM
Golden, indeed: Heavyweights from the stage and TV gathered at Broadway's Majestic Theatre Monday to pay tribute to the late Beatrice Arthur, mixing tears with loud laughs – and ribald recollections that would have been bleeped had the 2½ ceremony been broadcast on TV.

Instead, speaking live before a near-capacity house, Rue McClanahan told of the time her Golden Girls costar opened in her own 2002 one-woman Broadway show and graciously invited McClanahan and her husband, Morrow Wilson, to the opening-night performance and party afterwards.

Admitting Arthur – who died of cancer in April, at 86 – often wasn't at her best when she was drinking, McClanahan said an intoxicated Bea told Wilson when he introduced himself to her, "Rue, I love." But when McClanahan quoted Arthur's description of another costar on Golden Girls ("Betty's a c---"), an audible gasp ricocheted through the crowd – before it erupted into the longest and heartiest laugh of the afternoon.

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ratherbwatchinGG
09-15-2009, 12:07 PM
I didn't care much for Rue's story. It's no secret that Bea was a bawdy ol' broad and that was part of her charm but it seems that Rue forgot why she was there and decidedly threw that story in and in my opinion in poor taste. But all in all I enjoyed the afternoon a great deal!