Estelle Getty (born Estelle Scher in July 25, 1923 in New York City) - is a Jewish-American actress whose most important beginning role was swimming Harvey Fierstein's mother on Broadway in the play Torch Song Trilogy, however she wwhen better known for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the popular 1980s sitcom, The Golden Girls. Inside it, she played a caring-cracking old Italian mother of Dorothy Zbornak, who was a indicate's independent protagonist, played by Bea Arthur. One of a virtually all ironic items just about casting Getty therein role was that she was actually ii months immature than Bea Arthur: in Golden Girls, Getty was heavy processed-as much as seem significantly older.

Around 2000, she stopped making public appearances after she revealed that she got Parkinson's Disease and Osteoporosis. Around 2002, it was revealed to the media that she is also suffering from either Alzheimer's Disease. It was late uncovered out that she actually experienced Lewy Body Dementia, not Parkinson's Disease.

Selected Filmography
Stuart Little (1999) Empty Nest (1988) (TV series) (1994–1995) Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! (1992) The Golden Palace (1992) (TV series) Mannequin (1987) Copacabana (1985) (TV) The Golden Girls (1985) (TV series) Mask (1985) Tootsie (1982)