As my friend Jim used to say (quite often),
If Bea Arthur married Arthur Murray,
she would Bea Arthur Murray.
When prominent celebrities from from childhood die, I often look up with biographies. Maude is one of those shows I sort of remember, though I think it mostly dealt with topics that were of no interest to me. And Golden Girls is a TV show everyone has heard of. So I was kinda surprised to find out that Bea Arthur was actually involved in a Star Wars project.
In Bea Arthur’s wikipedia entry, I found that she was in the Star Wars Holiday Special. What is a Star Wars Holiday Special? Apparently, a made for TV variety special that was incredibly bad. It aired only once and has been sort of buried ever since.
Any mention of Maude brings up Adrienne Barbeau, who I think of in terms of shows like Fantasy Island and The Love Boat — and apparently she was in a Deep Space Nine episode (in so much makeup you’d never guess it was her).
So there’s two actresses involved in science fiction work that I never would have suspected.
Fascinating.
(To me anyway.)
Though there’s a good chance I’ll never watch that Star Wars Holiday Special, I do remember the “And then there’s Maude” opening and I’ve watched plenty of Golden Girls episodes because they’re almost always on TV and they’re generally always funny. I think that’s a good way to remember someone — entertaining.
Update: In the days of my youth, this article would just end with the above. Old video would disappear forever. But now with everyone having the power of the internet — old video never dies.
Bea Arthur and Harvey Korman in the Star Wars Holiday Special — this is 10 minutes you’ll never get back.
Or, if you’re a glutton for punishment, you can watch the entire show/movie/disaster right here. It’s everything of a 1970’s Christmas variety show and more.