http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2011/05/bette_white_vs.php


Betty White Reveals Why Bea Arthur Hated Her!
By Michael Musto, Thu., May 5 2011

We know full well how Bea Arthur felt about her Golden Girls costar Betty White, partly thanks to all those years when Rue McClanahan ran around saying that Bea called Betty a c-word.

In Rue's book, there was also the darling little anecdote about how Bea was pissed when Betty was the first of that cast's ensemble to get nominated for the Best Actress Emmy.

But I guess Betty's been too busy working--and living and triumphing--to give her side of the story.

Until now.

At last night's TimesTalk, the 89-year-old supernova--promoting her new book, If You Ask Me--took a breath and said:

"Bea had a reserve.

"She was not that fond of me.

"She found me a pain in the neck sometimes.

"It was my positive attitude--and that made Bea mad sometimes.

"Sometimes if I was happy, she'd be furious!"

Well, nowadays, Betty is so bursting-at-the-seams with success and happiness it would have driven poor Bea batty.

Oh, well, Bea's at peace now--and so are Rue and Estelle Getty.

But hey, what about Estelle?

Well, said Betty, her big quirk was that she hated doing any scripts involving death.

"Death frightened her very much," confided Betty.

"It was almost a phobia!"

I bet Bea frightened her too!

(Kidding. I worshiped all four of these ladies, phobias and all. Damn, they were good.)

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2011/05/bette_white_vs.php


Betty White Reveals Why Bea Arthur Hated Her!
By Michael Musto, Thu., May 5 2011

We know full well how Bea Arthur felt about her Golden Girls costar Betty White, partly thanks to all those years when Rue McClanahan ran around saying that Bea called Betty a c-word.

In Rue's book, there was also the darling little anecdote about how Bea was pissed when Betty was the first of that cast's ensemble to get nominated for the Best Actress Emmy.

But I guess Betty's been too busy working--and living and triumphing--to give her side of the story.

Until now.

At last night's TimesTalk, the 89-year-old supernova--promoting her new book, If You Ask Me--took a breath and said:

"Bea had a reserve.

"She was not that fond of me.

"She found me a pain in the neck sometimes.

"It was my positive attitude--and that made Bea mad sometimes.

"Sometimes if I was happy, she'd be furious!"

Well, nowadays, Betty is so bursting-at-the-seams with success and happiness it would have driven poor Bea batty.

Oh, well, Bea's at peace now--and so are Rue and Estelle Getty.

But hey, what about Estelle?

Well, said Betty, her big quirk was that she hated doing any scripts involving death.

"Death frightened her very much," confided Betty.

"It was almost a phobia!"

I bet Bea frightened her too!

(Kidding. I worshiped all four of these ladies, phobias and all. Damn, they were good.)

Wow. I had absolutely no idea about ANY of this. I'm learning new things every day on these forums...

Very interesting. This is the first direct confirmation I've ever seen about this. Though, I never really doubted it. There always seemed to be a type of strange tension between the two of them.

I've only heard of 3 people that ever disliked Betty. Bea Arthur, Lindsay Lohan and Phyllis Lindstrom (:lol:)! Seriously though, thats pretty sad Bea felt that way. And Betty White, was very professional, as always, finally explaining the situation. Betty always takes the "higher road"!

I guess this is what happens when you have two very successful actresses on the same stage both trying to steal the show. They sound like they were not very far from the charachters they played in terms of personality. One light and cheerful, the other one the total opposite.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24682838@N05/3391967073/

references in some episodes, with Dorothy commenting how she was sick of Rose's cheery disposition (when they had the flu), when she was telling Miles that Rose was so cheery that you wanted to take a grapefruit and squash it in her face (or something like that), etc. etc. :D

This surprises me as well. Whenever they were shown together in the public eye they always seem like they got along so well.

It isn't surprising to me, as I have heard from reliable sources that Bea Arthur could be a royal pain in the you-know-what. She was very abrasive and direct. One story I heard was that early on, Bea was less than kind to Estelle Getty. Bea felt that she was a "novice" when it came to acting, and she sort of made Getty feel she was less than important than she, Betty and Rue. Eventually, she came to be very fond of Estelle, and Estelle of her, but at first, she scared the hell out of Estelle Getty. There are also stories that Bea could be almost nasty to special guest stars as well. She went off on one actor during rehearsals because she saw him chewing gum.

But on the other hand, Bea could be very kind. She just had a few aspects of her personality that didn't necessarily make her "warm" and "friendly", but underneath it all, she could be very sweet, charming and her work for animal rights makes her an "A-OK" human being in my book.

Besides, don't we ALL have our bad days????

We all have our Bad and Good days. Betty was or its just is a very cheerful and Happy person which there is nothing wrong with but if Bea did hate Betty that could be part of it. Peoples who are extremely cheerful all the times annoys some peoples which is unfortunate, And I could see where that could get on someone nerves like Beatrice from time to time.

Besides, don't we ALL have our bad days????

True but how many bad days did she have? I love her, her work and all but DANG! :eek: It sounded like she could be downright evil.

True but how many bad days did she have? I love her, her work and all but DANG! :eek: It sounded like she could be downright evil.
The Sad thing is that we never got Bea Side of the story.Which is okay I guess, Although she was a very private person. I don' know she would still say anything anyway . I guess, But the heck she was still a Great actress! And right Who knows what really went on as according to Rue they(Beat and betty) got along fine,

"Who knows what really went on as according to Rue they(Beat and betty) got along fine"


Well, that's not exactly accurate. Rue does describe Bea calling Betty a horrible name and being pissy about Betty, in Rue's book "My First Five Husbands". She tries to be tactful about it, but makes it clear that the animosity came from Bea's direction, not Betty's. Bea was also not always nice to Rue herself, but Rue went out of her way to tell a story where Bea showed her much kindness right after Rue lost her father. (what half-way decent person wouldn't, however)

Some people hate me because of my upbeat, positive, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" attitude but I don't really care. I'm not changing myself to suit others.

Some people hate me because of my upbeat, positive, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" attitude but I don't really care. I'm not changing myself to suit others.
I get that too sometimes:confused: If I'm real happy and too cheery, negative people try to bring me down and act annoyed with me!:(

I get that too sometimes:confused: If I'm real happy and too cheery, negative people try to bring me down and act annoyed with me!:(

I believe you, but how odd. Personally, I find depressed, unhappy people much harder to be around than happy, cheerful ones. Who wants to be around a perpetual "downer"? :confused:

I believe you, but how odd. Personally, I find depressed, unhappy people much harder to be around than happy, cheerful ones. Who wants to be around a perpetual "downer"? :confused:

It's the downer people that get annoyed at cheerfulness! :( They feel if they aren't happy,why should other people be! :(

It's best to just steer clear of it, but if it's people you can't keep at a distance ,coworkers, bosses, family members, or long term friends that you feel a loyalty to! :(

I figured to mention this tidbit here, Bea Arthur's eldest adopted son, Matthew Saks, recently did a interview with THR:




If one persistent rumor about Arthur still follows her into the afterlife, it’s that she and her "Golden Girls" co-star Betty White, who played the dippy Minnesotan Rose Nylund, had a contentious off-screen relationship.

Saks says it isn’t entirely without merit. “My mom was the real deal,” he explains. “I think she felt she was more of an actress than Betty. Mom came from Broadway. Betty starred on a game show at one point.”

He continues: “When they shot the sitcom, sometimes they had to stop. My mom would stay concentrated, maybe stay backstage, stand in her place there. And sometimes Betty would go out and smile and chat with the audience and literally go and make friends with the audience. Which is a nice thing — a lot of them have come from all over the country and are fans. I think my mom didn’t dig that.

It’s more about being focused or conserving your energy. It’s just not the right time to talk to fans between takes. Betty was able to do it and it didn’t seem to affect her. But it rubbed my mom the wrong way.” Still, Saks adds, “there was no fighting at all. They were friends. At one point they lived close enough that they would drive each other to work.”

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bea-arthur-lgbt-teen-homeless-932269

“I think she felt she was more of an actress than Betty. Mom came from Broadway. ”

In other words, she was a colossal snob. :rolleyes:

"Betty starred on a game show at one point"? At one point? :eek:

Are you freakin' kidding me? Betty White starred in two television shows in the early days of TV. Life With Elizabeth and Date With the Angels. She has done numerous motion pictures. (How many movies was Bea Arthur in?) And she was a FAVORITE guest on so many early television shows even Betty herself probably can't remember them all.

And since when does "coming from Broadway" justify calling someone "the c word" or giving her own son the impression that she was "more of an actress" than she was? Let's face it. She mistreated Betty. She mistreated Estelle Getty, and she mistreated an entire Broadway audience one night just because she got drunk.

Nice try, Matthew. I get it..you loved your mother. But you just provided more proof to the rumor that she was a bee-otch, without meaning to.

I guess she deserves to be call that.

“I think she felt she was more of an actress than Betty. Mom came from Broadway. ”

In other words, she was a colossal snob. :rolleyes:

"Betty starred on a game show at one point"? At one point? :eek:

Are you freakin' kidding me? Betty White starred in two television shows in the early days of TV. Life With Elizabeth and Date With the Angels. She has done numerous motion pictures. (How many movies was Bea Arthur in?) And she was a FAVORITE guest on so many early television shows even Betty herself probably can't remember them all.

And since when does "coming from Broadway" justify calling someone "the c word" or giving her own son the impression that she was "more of an actress" than she was? Let's face it. She mistreated Betty. She mistreated Estelle Getty, and she mistreated an entire Broadway audience one night just because she got drunk.

Nice try, Matthew. I get it..you loved your mother. But you just provided more proof to the rumor that she was a bea-otch, without meaning to.

Fixed.

“I think she felt she was more of an actress than Betty. Mom came from Broadway. ”

In other words, she was a colossal snob. :rolleyes:

"Betty starred on a game show at one point"? At one point? :eek:

Are you freakin' kidding me? Betty White starred in two television shows in the early days of TV. Life With Elizabeth and Date With the Angels. She has done numerous motion pictures. (How many movies was Bea Arthur in?) And she was a FAVORITE guest on so many early television shows even Betty herself probably can't remember them all.

And since when does "coming from Broadway" justify calling someone "the c word" or giving her own son the impression that she was "more of an actress" than she was? Let's face it. She mistreated Betty. She mistreated Estelle Getty, and she mistreated an entire Broadway audience one night just because she got drunk.

Nice try, Matthew. I get it..you loved your mother. But you just provided more proof to the rumor that she was a bee-otch, without meaning to.

Although I love Bea, I gotta admit, Betty has a much more impressive background. So maybe it was just plain old jealousy that Betty was possibly more skilled and could multi-task better.

Didn't Bea and Betty eat lunch together everyday on set? At least that's what I've read in the past. Maybe their "feud" wasn't as bad as legend would have it.

Didn't Bea and Betty eat lunch together everyday on set? At least that's what I've read in the past. Maybe their "feud" wasn't as bad as legend would have it.
Shouldn't really speak for the deceased I guess, especially since I never even met Bea, but my guess would be that she actually loved Betty, but resented her. I mean, really....how could you not like Betty White? :loveya:

But liking someone and being jealous of them are two different things. No doubt Betty made delightful company, so why wouldn't Bea want to have lunch with her? Plus refusing to would make her look pretty petty.

As I've said before, my impression is that Bea resented the fact that Betty was everything she wasn't.... Feminine, big blue eyes, beautiful facial bone structure, and a gorgeous sweet smile. Normal female voice. Normal female height. Cheerful, sweet disposition.

To top it off, Betty's husband (as far as we know) was loving and faithful to her till his death. Bea's.....sadly, not. Just saying this is what appears obvious to me. Not pretending to know this for sure.

Shouldn't really speak for the deceased I guess, especially since I never even met Bea, but my guess would be that she actually loved Betty, but resented her. I mean, really....how could you not like Betty White? :loveya:

But liking someone and being jealous of them are two different things. No doubt Betty made delightful company, so why wouldn't Bea want to have lunch with her? Plus refusing to would make her look pretty petty.

As I've said before, my impression is that Bea resented the fact that Betty was everything she wasn't.... Feminine, big blue eyes, beautiful facial bone structure, and a gorgeous sweet smile. Normal female voice. Normal female height. Cheerful, sweet disposition.

To top it off, Betty's husband (as far as we know) was loving and faithful to her till his death. Bea's.....sadly, not. Just saying this is what appears obvious to me. Not pretending to know this for sure.
Well spoken!

She's just a cheerful person. Even if too cheerful, Bea shouldn't have been like that towards her. That's how I'd be as I work in TV here and there and I make friends with the visiting audiences going way back to my days working at The Price Is Right to current sitcoms. A lot of people don't really do that but it's something I love to do. That's great Betty did that with the audience.

Although I love Bea, I gotta admit, Betty has a much more impressive background. So maybe it was just plain old jealousy that Betty was possibly more skilled and could multi-task better.
You may have a point there.

I love Dorothy, but Bea Arthur was a toad. Pretty much common knowledge in Hollywood at the time.

Shouldn't really speak for the deceased I guess, especially since I never even met Bea, but my guess would be that she actually loved Betty, but resented her. I mean, really....how could you not like Betty White? :loveya:

But liking someone and being jealous of them are two different things. No doubt Betty made delightful company, so why wouldn't Bea want to have lunch with her? Plus refusing to would make her look pretty petty.

As I've said before, my impression is that Bea resented the fact that Betty was everything she wasn't.... Feminine, big blue eyes, beautiful facial bone structure, and a gorgeous sweet smile. Normal female voice. Normal female height. Cheerful, sweet disposition.

To top it off, Betty's husband (as far as we know) was loving and faithful to her till his death. Bea's.....sadly, not. Just saying this is what appears obvious to me. Not pretending to know this for sure.

That's a fair guess, but I would think that by the time Bea was in her 40s or 50s she would have come to accept who she was and use it, which seems to be exactly what she did. She wasn't the cute one, she was the tough one. You give a really nice description of Betty White, but really they were all 4 older women whose looks weren't really important at that point, it was their character that was the most important factor at that point.

It sounds like Bea needed to be focused and concentrate on her work at all times while working while Betty is one of those lucky people who takes things lightly while still being on when it's necessary and can slip in and out of work (and character) with great ease.

"Betty is one of those lucky people who takes things lightly while still being on when it's necessary and can slip in and out of work (and character) with great ease."

My guess is you're spot on, KatieAnne. In her autobiography, Rue made the statement that Betty White was so unbelievably great at memorizing her lines of dialogue that they used to joke that the only thing they could conclude was that "she must be a witch." :lol:

Being a "Betty watcher" for decades now, (she's always been my very favorite actress) I'm sure she has a very high IQ. (Not that Bea was a slouch) ;)

Didn't Bea and Betty eat lunch together everyday on set? At least that's what I've read in the past. Maybe their "feud" wasn't as bad as legend would have it.

It seems like Bea and Betty had a complicated relationship - as much as you hear of Bea's hatred of Betty, she would only go to lunch with the cast of Betty went too.

As I mentioned before, my guess is that Bea didn't so much hate Betty, as she was jealous of her. And I doubt she had to force herself to join her for lunch.

Going to lunch with Betty White would not be an act of sacrifice or generosity, it would be a joy. She's a delightful person. I'd be thrilled to have lunch with her any day. :biglove:

Me too.

“I think she felt she was more of an actress than Betty. Mom came from Broadway. ”

In other words, she was a colossal snob. :rolleyes:

"Betty starred on a game show at one point"? At one point? :eek:

Are you freakin' kidding me? Betty White starred in two television shows in the early days of TV. Life With Elizabeth and Date With the Angels. She has done numerous motion pictures. (How many movies was Bea Arthur in?) And she was a FAVORITE guest on so many early television shows even Betty herself probably can't remember them all.

And since when does "coming from Broadway" justify calling someone "the c word" or giving her own son the impression that she was "more of an actress" than she was? Let's face it. She mistreated Betty. She mistreated Estelle Getty, and she mistreated an entire Broadway audience one night just because she got drunk.

Nice try, Matthew. I get it..you loved your mother. But you just provided more proof to the rumor that she was a bee-otch, without meaning to.

Agreed! No disrespect to him but if he is going to summarize Betty's Resume, then get the details. She did more than game shows. Betty had been in the industry close to 70 years (possibly even more). Bless his heart.

As I mentioned before, my guess is that Bea didn't so much hate Betty, as she was jealous of her. And I doubt she had to force herself to join her for lunch.

Going to lunch with Betty White would not be an act of sacrifice or generosity, it would be a joy. She's a delightful person. I'd be thrilled to have lunch with her any day. :biglove:

Bea and Betty had two very different personalities. Bea was a natural pessimist and low key, while Betty is a natural optimist and high energy. Betty seemed to be of the opinion of working hard but having fun while working, while Bea seemed more like she wanted things to be very serious.

I always imagined that the reason the actresses didn't get along was because they had opposite personalities. Betty was more upbeat and optimistic while Bea often times came across as a downer. But they were able to play the part of being best friends as Rose and Dorothy very convincingly. A truely good actor makes you believe their characters are real no matter what.

But they were able to play the part of being best friends as Rose and Dorothy very convincingly. A truely good actor makes you believe their characters are real no matter what.

Absolutely. I've always admired how each of the four women played their characters. I just don't like what I've heard about Bea in real life. Makes me sad that someone blessed with such a privileged life couldn't just relax, be grateful, and enjoy it. ohno:

The incident described by Adrienne Barbeau when Bea disrupted a Broadway play with a drunken rant to demean the cast just further demonstrated that she needed to feel superior to others at all times. So her anger wasn't confined to just Betty.

As far as I know, no one else has had anything negative to say about Betty. At least, publicly. That's quite remarkable for someone who's been in Hollywood for over 70 years! :eek:

If Bea had "drunken rants" then perhaps she had a problem with alcohol. That would put a different spin on her personality "flaws."

I don't mind that Bea played tough abrasive characters and that this quality was a part of her real personality. She sounds like somebody who didn't like anybody very much, and maybe she was too consumed with her own life and issues to bother with other people, and so she came off as not liking them - Betty included.

I bet that if you are somebody who is introverted and needs peace around her that having someone who is supposedly always cheerful would end up being a nuisance. Maybe Bea just preferred to be around people who were more mellow.

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I found a blooper where Bea is not amused with Betty's antics. It occurs at 3:06. Rue screwed up her line and Betty begins to joke with the audience. Just as Betty opens her mouth you can hear Bea moan "oh god."

It seems a hundred years ago. Funny how the mind plays tricks..

"The Golden Girls" Creatives Spill the Tea on Bitter Feud Between Betty White and Bea Arthur — and Making a Classic Anyway
by Kimberly Nordyke
June 19, 2025


Creatives behind "The Golden Girls" shared funny and, at times, very candid behind-the-scenes stories — namely, among the long-rumored feud between stars Betty White and Bea Arthur — during a 40th-anniversary celebration of the long-running hit show on Wednesday night.

The sold-out event, held at NeueHouse Hollywood as part of the monthlong Pride LIVE! Hollywood festival, featured a panel of writers, producers and others who worked on the show, which ran for seven seasons on NBC, from 1985-92.




Co-producer Marsha Posner Williams brought up a topic that has been much-discussed and speculated on: whether Arthur and White got along in real life.

“When that red light was on [and the show was filming], there were no more professional people than those women, but when the red light was off, those two couldn’t warm up to each other if they were cremated together,” she quipped.

Arthur “used to call me at home and say, ‘I just ran into that c” — meaning White, using the c-word — “at the grocery store. I’m gonna write her a letter,’ and I said, ‘Bea, just get over it for crying out loud. Just get past it.'”




In fact, the panelists shared that Arthur called White the c-word more than once.

“I remember, my husband and I went over to Bea’s house a couple of times for dinner. Within 30 seconds of walking in the door, the c-word came out,” Williams said, and Thurm noted that he heard Arthur call White that word as well while sitting next to her on a flight.

It’s a story he shared a few years ago on a podcast and then got surprised at the internet’s response over his revelation.




The panelists differed on their theories about why the two didn’t get along.

Co-producer Jim Vallely thought it was because White got a lot more applause during cast introductions ahead of tapings, but Williams shot that down, noting that Arthur hated doing publicity and came from a different background (theatrical) than White (television).

“The show would have continued after seven years,” she shared. “Their contracts were up and … the executives went to the ladies, and Estelle said, ‘Yes, let’s keep going,’ and Rue said, ‘Yes let’s keep going,’ and Betty said, ‘Yes, let’s keep going.’ And Bea said ‘no ****ing way,’ and that’s why that show didn’t continue. … And Betty would break character in the middle of the show [and talk to the live audience], and Bea hated that.”




Script supervisor Isabel Omero remembered it differently, noting that the two used to walk “arm in arm” to get notes together after the first of two tapings.

Williams joked that was in case they were walking across the lot and a golf cart got out of control, suggesting that one of them might push the other in front of it.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/golden-girls-bea-arthur-betty-white-did-not-get-along-1236295065/

Two polar opposite, very strong personalities as well as differing approaches to their craft-- no surprise there was a clash.

What came off the screen was pure magic and is still, arguably, one of the most enjoyable and enduring sitcoms ever. The cast was ensemble and had screen chemistry despite the behind-the-scenes this-n-that.

Stay Golden!

This drama still is leaking out. My gosh Bea hated Betty. The story about her constantly using the C word. But this article reveals that after the 5 year contract was up Bea could not wait to get away from Betty which is why she called it quits.