Yet another major name in the entertainment industry has passed away this week. Beatrice Arthur, the superb comic actress who starred in
Maude and
The Golden Girls has died from cancer. She was 86. Arthur was already a well-known name on stage by the time she was cast as Maude in the 1970s. Arthur had won the supporting actress Tony for her performance in the 1966 production of
Mame. The character of the razor-sharp-witted Maude was introduced as a foil for Carroll O'Connor's Archie Bunker in
All in the Family before being spun off to her own highly successful series. In the 1980s, Arthur repeated that success as a trio of aging but humorous women living together in
The Golden Girls. For more on her life,
click here