Bea Arthur Dies at 86

Bea Arthur, Dead at 86.

LOS ANGELES (AP) —

"Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" and who won a Tony Award for the musical "Mame," died Saturday. She was 86."

Oh dear Bea Arthur. Yes, of course we all loved her work on "Maude" back in the day and of course, "The Golden Girls." Patrick and I had our own Bea Arthur jokes. For instance, we always refer to Banana Republic as the BR-thur" and we called a particular gay man--a sort of friend of ours, (who will go un-named) who wore big ol' 70's cowl neck sweaters, "Maude".

Rest in peace, Bea.