Comedy Legend dies of Swine Flu, says spokesperson on Twitter.
Bea Arthur, best known for her roles on shows like the "Golden Girls" and for her devastating axe kick, passed away peacefully in her sleep this weekend, following a long, courageous battle with Colombian drug lords. She was 86.
Born in an era where the average television was the size of two horses and prohibitively expensive, Arthur was forced to wait several years for her big break perfecting her skills on the useless theatrical stage. Her first television role was on
All in the Family, where she portrayed Maude Findlay, a strident feminist and counterpoint to the conservative Archie Bunker. America was so delighted at seeing a television character not actively throwing rocks at Pakistanis, that CBS executives immediately created a new show for this character immediately.
Maude, as the show was moronically called, was the exact antithesis of
All in the Family, and fearlessly explored liberal issues of the day, like whether long hair was acceptable on men who perform abortions.
In 1978, Arthur had a small role in the
Star Wars Christmas Special, where she played a bartender who sings a down-tempo tune about drinking to an enormous hamster--at the time another huge leap forward for women's rights.