http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lk1SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Q3wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5109,5353771&dq=bill+macy&hl=en

After Maude was cancelled the article talks about how Bea Arthur & the rest of the cast stopped talking to Bill Macy and he never could understand it considering for 6 years he spent more time with the cast than he did his own family. Interesting little article.

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/maude/maudeIMAGE/maude.jpg

Wow!!! :confused: For what it's worth, I read an article in Soap Opera Digest just a couple of weeks ago that Adrienne Barbeau (Carol), who is now appearing on General Hospital, said she keeps in touch with both Mr. Macy and Conrad Bain. So whatever happened, I guess he patched things up with at least one former castmate.

I still have the issue of that magazine around. As soon as I get a chance, I'll dig it out and let you all know what the exact quotes were.

Was he even at Bea Arthur's funeral?Probably was(or was he?),but I'll bet he was shocked to hear of her death.By the way.did he and Bea Arthur get along on "Maude"?Anyway,that's interesting.

Just because he has not spoken with Bea and the other cast members does not mean that something went wrong? Have all of the other cast members phoned each other/kept in touch during the time mentioned, but chose not to speak to Bill?

It sounds like it was just a casual comment or an observation. Of course it is possible that there may have been issues, but the article never gave me the feeling that there were any problems with Bea or the other cast members.

To the OP: Thanks for posting these old articles they are interesting to read when they are about classic tv sitcoms.

Was he even at Bea Arthur's funeral?Probably was(or was he?),

I don't think she had a funeral. She had a public memorial on Broadway in the Fall hosted by Angela Lansbury (and I think Rosie O'Donnell), but not a funeral when she died. As for the memorial, I don't recall if any of her former castmates from either 'Maude' or 'Golden Girls' attended.

I got to read that article. We have to remember this article is from 1979. A lot could've happened since then. That came from the St. Pete Times.

O.T.: I also saw the ad for "Eckerd Drugs" Store. LOL. I grew up outside of St. Petersburg so I remember Eckerds. It then became CVS in the early 2000's.

In the interview Bea did for the Archive of American Television in 2000 or 2001 she mentions watching some Maude reruns and that she phoned Bill Macy to tell him they were on and how good they were together when she looked back 30 or so years on, so they must have been friends or at least on speaking terms.

Interesting!! :cool:

In the interview Bea did for the Archive of American Television in 2000 or 2001 she mentions watching some Maude reruns and that she phoned Bill Macy to tell him they were on and how good they were together when she looked back 30 or so years on, so they must have been friends or at least on speaking terms.

Not surprising! The first thing that struck me when I read that article is that it was from 1979 and only a year after Maude ended. I know when I've left jobs before and immediately gotten busy with other things, months, and sometimes years, have passed by without touching base with some folks. You move into a new job and all of a sudden there are a bunch of new people in your life, and you only have so much time left in the day. So being out of touch with people after your life takes a sharp detour doesn't mean there's anything personal between anybody, just that life happens. Bea Arthur was was a mother and a wife in addition to having a career. I'm sure she was super busy and time flew by before she realized it. I just got together with an old friend Saturday night. It felt like we had just seen one another, but we got to thinking that it was at least three years ago that we last saw one another. So I can relate!

Yup! Just like in regular jobs - people move away or go into a different line of work or just stay home with their families. Then they reconnect later. :cool:

Bill is now almost 91. He plays poker with me weekly, and is sharp as a tack. I know he spoke with Bea about 1 week before she passed. He suffered a loss when she passed, as they had remained friends. Bill and I speak of the good ol days, but he never mentioned any discontent with co-stars on Maude. I think the story was probably baseless. I don't want to ask him about it because it's so old. I know he's still married to his loving wife Sam, of many years.

Was he even at Bea Arthur's funeral?Probably was(or was he?),

I don't think she had a funeral. She had a public memorial on Broadway in the Fall hosted by Angela Lansbury (and I think Rosie O'Donnell), but not a funeral when she died. As for the memorial, I don't recall if any of her former castmates from either 'Maude' or 'Golden Girls' attended.
I thought Rue McClanahan attended Bea's memorial. And I'm surprised Adrianne Barbeau wasn't there.

Bill is now almost 91. He plays poker with me weekly, and is sharp as a tack. I know he spoke with Bea about 1 week before she passed. He suffered a loss when she passed, as they had remained friends. Bill and I speak of the good ol days, but he never mentioned any discontent with co-stars on Maude. I think the story was probably baseless. I don't want to ask him about it because it's so old. I know he's still married to his loving wife Sam, of many years.
Thanks for letting us know. You should tell Bill there's a lot of people old and new out there loving his work on Maude :)

Bill is now almost 91. He plays poker with me weekly, and is sharp as a tack. I know he spoke with Bea about 1 week before she passed. He suffered a loss when she passed, as they had remained friends. Bill and I speak of the good ol days, but he never mentioned any discontent with co-stars on Maude. I think the story was probably baseless. I don't want to ask him about it because it's so old. I know he's still married to his loving wife Sam, of many years.

You play poker with Bill Macy? You are so lucky!

Saw him today....

I just stumbled into this forum when I was surfing the Internet looking for info about Bill Macy. I read he had turned 92 the other day, and I am glad to here that he is sharp as a tack as the previous poster reports.

The way the article is written seems to distort the context by trying to create a controversy where none exists. No disrespect whatsoever meant to Bill Macy, but in 1979, a reporter from the St. Petersburg Times who is assigned a story to cover him is unlikely to be a star reporter assigned a plum feature. So I suspect she added a significant amount of intrigue (that has lasted this many years, sadly) for the purpose of sensationalism.

Like a previous post mentions, the show ended a year earlier, and many people become involved in new parts of their lives. For instance, Conrad Bain was knee deep in Diff'rent Strokes by this time. I was close to people at one job in particular, and it was easily a year before we reunited after parting ways amicably. And when you see them again, you just pick up from there. If they spent that much time together for that length of time, they probably wanted a break from one another. What else can you say after that length of time. The space is good.

Anyways, no where does Bill Macy say there is animosity or even suggest it. It is the sensationalist reporter who even gives it a ridiculous headline to draw readers. Bill Macy was just observing the dynamic of being so close with his castmates for so long, and the sudden switch. If she was any good as a reporter, she would have inquired if there was animosity, and dig deeper into this statement. The story is so vague it is absurd. Did she just interview Bill Macy and this is all she could report? This is National Enquirer level reporting, unfortunately. The other accounts listed here seem to indicate communication between Bill and other castmates years on.

If there was a whole conversation and context in this article that would be one thing, but there isn't.

Saw him today....

I noticed that you had only two posts. . .So. . . .

http://i.imgur.com/baFQO3x.gif (http://lunapic.com>)