The Last-Minute Casting Switch That Changed ‘The Golden Girls’ Forever

Running from 1985 to 1992, The Golden Girls upended sitcom conventions, proving that a show about older women could draw in major audience shares. It starred Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty as four women in the 'golden age' of life, sharing a home and navigating their various challenges. But it was almost very different from the casting we know and love! THE GOLDEN GIRLS THEMSELVESThe Golden Girls | NBC/GettyImagesAll four leads deservedly received Primetime Emmy Awards for their work. McClanahan, who played the man-hungry Blanche Elizabeth Devereaux, had previously starred in the shows Maude and Mama's Family. Bea Arthur (the practical, reasonable Dorothy Zbornak) had also appeared in Maude, as well as that show's predecessor, All the Family. The character of quick-witted Sophia Petrillo was portrayed by Estelle Getty, who had previously won much praise for her work on Broadway.The final member of the quartet, the sweet, caring, and somewhat dull-witted Rose, has become synonymous with Betty White, the actor who played her. Betty White was a pioneer. Born Betty Marion Ludden in Chicago in 1922, she made countless early television appearances in sitcoms, sketch shows, and game shows. Betty was the first woman to produce a sitcom, Life with Elizabeth, which ran from 1953-1955. She was also the first woman to be awarded a Daytime Emmy Award, as host of the game show, Just Men! Her acting role in The Mary Tyler Moore Show cemented Betty as a much-loved presence on American television, but it's arguably her role as Rose in The Golden Girls that defined her legacy. It's certainly strange now to think that White very nearly played a different part in the show.A CLOSE CASTING CALLThe Golden Girls | NBC/GettyImagesAccording to Jim Colucci, author of Golden Girls Forever, White was the first actor cast for the series, and it wasn't for the role of Rose. As Colucci recounts: “They picked Betty first, and they cast her as Blanche, kind of going along The Mary Tyler Moore Show lines and her character there, Sue Ann Nivens. By the time Rue [McClanahan] got offered a chance to come in and audition, she had her heart set on Blanche, but they said to her, ‘No, that’s Betty’s role. If you want to do this show at all, you’d better read for Rose.’”However, when the pilot episode's director, Jay Sandrich, observed Rue reading as Rose, he realised a switch might be in order. Sandrich asked Rue to read Blanche's lines and then approached Betty White with the idea that they swap roles. White agreed, and the rest is history. Observes Colucci: “Betty played Rose in a way that I don’t think anyone else could have, and that’s why that role swap is so vital to the show’s success. Not that Rue isn’t brilliant and probably couldn’t have done something different with it, but I have always had this adage that it takes a brilliant person to play stupid. And Betty was one of the smartest people I’ve ever met."Read More: