144 Fun Facts About Golden Girls

What city do the Golden Girls live in?

The four women share a house in Miami, Florida, and most of their late-night talks happen around its kitchen table.

What dessert do the Golden Girls famously eat together late at night?

Cheesecake fuels the women's late-night talks at the kitchen table; scenes like those are one reason the writers dropped a live-in cook after the pilot.

Which actress played Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls?

Arthur had earlier played the title role in Maude, and her decision to leave is what ended the series.

What is the name of the retirement home Sophia frequently references?

Shady Pines is the retirement home Sophia lived in before moving in with Dorothy; Dorothy's threat of "Shady Pines, Ma!" became a running joke.

Why does Sophia slip away to Sicily in season seven?

To apologize to a man she jilted: making amends with Guido was on a list of life goals she wrote in 1920, but when she finally tracks him down, he just tells her to forget about it.

Who played Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls?

White played the sweet, naive Rose and continued acting well into her 90s, becoming a beloved cultural icon.

What is the name of The Golden Girls theme song?

Thank You for Being a Friend had been a Top 40 single seven years before the show; a fresh recording was made for the opening credits, and the sequel series later swapped in another version again.

Where does Blanche Devereaux work?

At an art museum: in season one Blanche takes a psychology course to win a promotion there, and when she fails the midterm the professor offers her an A if she will sleep with him.

What fictional Minnesota town is Rose Nylund from?

St. Olaf finally appears on screen in season four, when the town names Rose its Woman of the Year, an honor she wins only because Blanche and Dorothy secretly embellished her list of achievements.

What was unusual about the actress cast as Sophia?

She was younger than her screen daughter by a little over a year, so it took heavy make-up and a wig to turn her into Dorothy's elderly mother.

Which actor played Stan, Dorothy's cheating ex-husband?

Herb Edelman's Stan left Dorothy for a younger woman and kept turning up with new schemes, yet in the finale he poses as her limo driver to make his peace before she remarries.

Which actress played Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls?

Rue McClanahan played Blanche, the man-hungry Southern belle; she won the 1987 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the role.

Why did The Golden Girls end?

A star quit: Bea Arthur bowed out after the seventh season, so her three co-stars carried their characters into a sequel series on a rival network.

Which pop star plays himself as a suitor competing with Lyle Waggoner for Dorothy?

Sonny Bono, then the mayor of Palm Springs, vies with Lyle Waggoner for Dorothy's affection in a season-six episode; the whole rivalry turns out to be part of a dream.

Blanche Devereaux grew up on a plantation in which U.S. state?

Georgia is where Blanche heads in season five for her father's funeral; back at her childhood home she quarrels with her sister Virginia and ends up missing the service.

What was Dorothy Zbornak's profession?

Dorothy was a substitute teacher, born in Brooklyn to Sicilian immigrants, bringing a sharp wit to her classroom frustrations.

What is the name of Rose's late husband?

Charlie's heart gave out while he and Rose were making love, so when a later date dies in her bed as well she swears off men altogether.

What is the name of Blanche's late husband?

George turns up alive in a season-six episode as Blanche's secret admirer, but his return proves to be one of the dreams she has had about him ever since his death.

Who created The Golden Girls?

Susan Harris took the job after her producer husband brought the idea home expecting her to refuse; she said two words won her over: old women, an audience television had never addressed.

In The Golden Girls pilot, why does Sophia move in with the three women?

Her retirement home burned down; the pilot's audience then took to Sophia so strongly that the producers made her a regular instead of the occasional guest they had planned.

Where did Rose and Dorothy find the ad for a room in Blanche's house?

A grocery-store bulletin board carried Blanche's ad; Rose met her as she pinned it up and won her over by giving a stray cat to a boy who had just lost his own.

What affectionate nickname does Sophia usually call Dorothy?

Pussycat is Sophia's pet name for Dorothy; when she starts using it on a nurse she has bonded with in season seven, a jealous Dorothy declares herself "Pussycat One".

What 1992 sequel series followed three of the housemates as they buy and run a hotel?

The Golden Palace is the Miami hotel the three women buy once the house is sold, only to find it has been stripped of nearly all its staff to make it look profitable.

The hotel-set sequel series that followed in 1992 aired on which network?

CBS won the sequel by promising a full season when the original network would commit to only 13 episodes; it then cancelled the show after that single season.

What medical condition does Sophia have that is used to explain her blunt behavior?

She had a stroke before the series began, which is also what put her in a retirement home; the writers use it to excuse every tactless thing she says.

Which new sitcom followed The Golden Girls on its premiere night?

227, starring Marla Gibbs, launched the same night; NBC had paired the two newcomers back to back, and both finished their first season among the twenty most-watched shows.

The real house used for The Golden Girls' early exterior shots stands in which Los Angeles neighborhood?

Brentwood supplied the real house only for the early seasons; a replica of its front was then built in Florida, and exterior shots were filmed there instead.

The Golden Girls is one of only a handful of sitcoms in which every principal cast member did what?

All four leads won a Primetime Emmy for their roles; the set was completed in 1988, when the actresses playing Dorothy and Sophia both won on the same night.

Which sitcom was a spinoff set in the same neighborhood as The Golden Girls?

Empty Nest began as a 1987 Golden Girls episode about a middle-aged couple next door; when that version was dropped, the idea was rebuilt around a widowed doctor and his grown daughters.

Who does Dorothy marry in The Golden Girls series finale?

Lucas Hollingsworth is Blanche's uncle; he and Dorothy first fake an engagement to punish Blanche for a clumsy set-up, then fall in love for real.

Which director shot The Golden Girls pilot and asked two of its leads to try each other's roles?

Jay Sandrich told the actress reading for Rose that he didn't believe her as an innocent and asked her to try Blanche; the two leads traded parts and escaped the types they had already played.

Which boyfriend of Rose's turns out to be in witness protection?

Miles Webber, Rose's mild college professor, admits in season six that he is really a Chicago accountant living under a new name; when his old employer proves to be alive, he has to flee Miami.

What was Sophia Petrillo's maiden name?

Grisanti is the surname of Sophia's brother Angelo; when he visits in season three, she has Dorothy and Stan pose as still married, to keep the divorce from a brother she believes is a priest.

Who is Dorothy's travelling-musician son?

Michael, 23, plans to marry Lorraine, a 44-year-old singer in his band; both families unite to stop the wedding, only to learn the couple has already eloped.

Which actor played Dorothy's new husband in The Golden Girls finale?

Leslie Nielsen, the deadpan star of Airplane! and The Naked Gun, played the groom; a notorious practical joker, he kept the emotional final taping light with pranks between scenes.

What Scandinavian heritage does Rose Nylund claim?

Norwegian, as Rose never tires of saying; she was in fact adopted, and in season six she finally meets her birth father, who turns out to be a monk.

What is the title of the two-part Golden Girls series finale?

One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest sends Dorothy off as a bride; Sophia is meant to go with her but in the end stays behind with the other two.

Who was Sophia's late husband, seen mostly in dreams and flashbacks?

Salvadore gambled away the profits of his pizza-and-knish stand, and his partner Max took the blame to save the marriage; Sophia learns the truth only decades later.

What is the name of Blanche's father, a wealthy Southern gentleman?

Big Daddy shocks Blanche in season one by announcing that he has sold the family home to chase a career as a country singer.

In The Golden Girls episode '72 Hours', what is Rose waiting three days to learn?

Her HIV test result: Rose fears that a transfusion six years earlier was infected, and Sophia reacts badly to the idea of an HIV-positive housemate.

Who wrote and first recorded the song that became The Golden Girls theme?

Andrew Gold took the song to number 25 in 1978, though his bigger radio hit was Lonely Boy; seven years later the sitcom had it sung afresh for its opening credits.

Which show ended The Golden Girls' best-comedy Emmy streak in 1988?

The Wonder Years won on the strength of a debut season just six episodes long, ending a run in which The Golden Girls had taken the top comedy prize in 1986 and 1987.

What is the name of Dorothy's daughter?

Kate arrives in season two having left her husband Dennis for cheating; when she takes him back, Dorothy, still raw from her own divorce, is furious.

Which entertainer guest-starred in a 1989 episode in which Rose becomes convinced he is her father?

Bob Hope really does turn up to host Dorothy's struggling charity show, though not for the reason Rose imagines: her belief that he is her father is only a childhood fantasy.

Rave reviews for the 1984 Los Angeles run of which play helped the future Sophia win her role?

Estelle Getty played Ma Beckoff in Harvey Fierstein's Torch Song Trilogy; notices from the play's Los Angeles run led to her being cast as Sophia.

Which country's 2008 remake of The Golden Girls was titled Chrysa Koritsia?

Greece's Chrysa Koritsia renamed three of the four housemates, as Dora, Fifi and Bella, and kept only Sophia's name as it was.

The Golden Girls kitchen set had originally been built for which earlier Witt/Thomas/Harris sitcom?

It Takes Two ran on ABC from 1982 to 1983; the designer gave the rest of the house a deliberate 'Florida look'.

Before The Golden Girls, the actress who played Blanche appeared as Aunt Fran Crowley on which sitcom?

Mama's Family also featured the future Rose; when NBC cancelled it in 1984 both actresses were suddenly free, which is how they came to audition for the same new sitcom.

What was NBC's working title for the idea that became The Golden Girls?

Miami Nice began as a running gag in a 1984 promo skit, in which an actress kept getting the name of the network's new cop show wrong; an executive in the audience saw a series in it.

How many half-hour episodes of The Golden Girls were produced in total?

The Golden Girls produced 180 half-hour episodes across seven seasons; its sequel The Golden Palace added 24 more.

On which game show does Dorothy dream she is a contestant after cramming for an audition?

Jeopardy comes to Miami to audition contestants; in Dorothy's dream Alex Trebek and Merv Griffin admit the game was fixed, and at the real try-out she aces the questions yet still fails to advance.

Which of these is the name of one of Rose Nylund's daughters?

Rose and Charlie had five children: Kirsten, Bridget, Gunilla, Adam, and Charlie Jr.

Rose later lands a job as assistant to whom?

A TV consumer reporter: Rose goes to Enrique Mas to complain that no one will hire a woman her age, and he turns out to need an assistant himself.

Where does Rose work when The Golden Girls begins?

A grief counseling center employs Rose until it shuts in a season-one episode; her clients then phone the house at all hours, and she finds employers turning her away because of her age.

Rose's professor boyfriend turns out to have once kept the books for whom?

A mobster nicknamed the Cheeseman employed him as an accountant in Chicago; after he went to the authorities he was handed a new identity as a college teacher.

Which actor played two of Rose's boyfriends, Arnie in season one and Miles in later seasons?

Harold Gould first appeared as Arnie, who takes Rose on a cruise in her first romance since being widowed; four seasons later he returned as her steady boyfriend Miles.

Which of Blanche's siblings comes out to her and later holds a commitment ceremony with a partner?

Clayton first hides behind a claim that he has slept with Rose; two seasons later he returns with his partner Doug, and Blanche struggles before accepting them as a couple.

What is the name of Dorothy's younger sister, who is married to a wealthy Californian?

In a season-seven two-parter Gloria loses her fortune and briefly dates Stan before dumping him.

Stan Zbornak's money-making invention, the 'Zbornie', was a utensil for opening what?

Baked potatoes made Stan rich at last: the Zbornie took off, and he turned to Dorothy for help wooing Japanese investors, though she didn't trust him.

What was the job of Chrissy, the young woman Stan left Dorothy for?

Flight attendant Chrissy married Stan after he walked out on Dorothy, but she later left him in turn.

How did Dorothy's 38-year marriage to Stan begin?

A pregnancy: Dorothy was still in high school, and the two married so the baby would be legitimate; they stayed together until Stan left her for a younger woman.

Which Hill Street Blues actor played Coco, the live-in cook dropped from The Golden Girls after its pilot?

Charles Levin had played Eddie Gregg, a groundbreaking gay character on Hill Street Blues, which is why the network's president suggested him for Coco.

Which Night Court actress's 1984 promo skit about retirees sparked the idea for The Golden Girls?

Selma Diamond, then 63 and playing a bailiff, performed the skit with Doris Roberts; network executives in the audience were so amused that they went looking for a series about older women.

Which NBC executive envisioned a series based on the 'Miami Nice' parody?

Littlefield pitched it to producers Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas, who had come in to sell a show about a female lawyer.

The Golden Girls' creator had been semiretired since which of her ABC series ended?

Soap ended in 1981 and she had no wish to go back to weekly television; the idea reached her only because the producers' regular writer turned it down.

Which Broadway star said she 'blew her audition' for Dorothy by improvising colorful language?

Elaine Stritch told the story against herself in her one-woman Broadway show; she had looked a natural choice, having starred in a British remake of Maude in 1980.

Brandon Tartikoff initially rejected casting Bea Arthur as Dorothy because of her low what?

Q Score measures how familiar and well liked a performer is; the show's creator had written Dorothy as a 'Bea Arthur type' and stayed dead set on casting the real one.

The Golden Girls pilot's director told Rue McClanahan to use her natural accent from which state?

Oklahoma-born McClanahan was told to drop the Southern accent she had prepared; once the series was picked up, a new director wanted the opposite, and she exaggerated the drawl instead.

Betty White was first pencilled in as Blanche because of her man-hungry role on which series?

White's man-hungry Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show was the obvious model for Blanche, so the role swap with McClanahan was a deliberate dodge of typecasting.

On Maude, the future Blanche played which sweet but scatterbrained character?

McClanahan played Vivian Harmon, Maude's ditzy best friend, on Maude in the 1970s; that role is why producers first pictured her as Rose.

What is the on-screen address of Blanche's house in The Golden Girls?

6151 Richmond Street exists only on screen: the house viewers saw stands in Los Angeles, and later exterior shots used a replica of its front built in Florida.

A replica of the Golden Girls house front was built on the backlot of which theme park?

The replica stood on Residential Street at Disney-MGM Studios, now Disney's Hollywood Studios; the street was demolished in 2003 to make way for the Lights, Motors, Action! stunt show.

What does a young Sunshine Cadet hold for ransom after Blanche gives it away by mistake?

Rose's teddy bear, Fernando, is handed to a girl named Daisy for helping out; she demands a ransom, until Rose walks her to the door, snatches the bear back and pushes her out.

What was the name of the Blanche-inspired clothing line her actress created for QVC?

A Touch of Rue offered Blanche's look in affordable fabrics; its creator knew the originals well, having had a clause in her contract that let her keep the character's custom-made costumes.

Dorothy wore sandals because Bea Arthur hated wearing what?

Shoes were, she said, the one pain of dressing up; she had settled on slacks and long jackets while playing Maude, and the costume designer carried the look over to Dorothy.

Which movie star guest-starred as Truby, a would-be roommate Blanche interviews in season six?

Debbie Reynolds's Truby is interviewed when Dorothy looks set to remarry Stan and move out; by one account the guest spot doubled as a try-out for a regular part.

Golden Girls writer-producer Marc Cherry went on to create which ABC series?

Desperate Housewives, which Marc Cherry launched in 2004 after writing for the Girls from 1990, again followed four women; its characters were partly inspired by his own mother.

At whose request did the Golden Girls cast perform in character at the 1988 Royal Variety Performance?

The Queen Mother was spotted chuckling in the royal box at one of Sophia's racier lines, even though the cast had censored a few jokes for the occasion.

Which Golden Girls episode did Hulu pull in 2020 over a scene with mud masks?

Mixed Blessings was removed in June 2020 over a scene in which Rose and Blanche walk in wearing mud masks and Rose assures the bride's Black family that the colour is only mud.

What was the title of the 1993 British ITV remake of The Golden Girls?

Brighton Belles stuck closely to the American scripts and was poorly received; ITV dropped it after six episodes, and the rest went out late at night more than a year later.

Who sang the version of the theme song heard at the start of every Golden Girls episode?

Cindy Fee made her living singing commercial jingles, such as Wheaties' "What the Big Boys Eat"; by her account the theme was one more quick session, sung two or three times with no idea where it would be used.

Who played hotel manager Roland Wilson in the 1992 sequel to The Golden Girls?

Don Cheadle played the serious young manager the women inherit with the hotel, one of only two staff its previous owners had left behind.

What medical specialty did the Girls' next-door neighbor Dr. Harry Weston practice?

Pediatrics is Harry Weston's field, yet it is he who steers Dorothy to the specialist who finally puts a name to her mystery illness in season five.

Which 2025 Golden Girls cozy mystery novel became a New York Times bestseller?

Rachel Ekstrom Courage wrote it; a follow-up, Death on the Lanai, was announced for a 2026 release.

How many Emmy Awards did The Golden Girls win during its original run?

Those wins came from 68 nominations, plus four Golden Globes along the way.

Which actress from the sitcom Alice played Rose's blind sister Lily in season one?

Polly Holliday, the waitress Flo of Alice, appears as Lily, who arrives from Chicago and begs Rose to move in and take care of her.

Why does Dorothy drop snobbish novelist Barbara Thorndyke?

Her club barred Jews, so Sophia's date was not welcome; Barbara shrugged that it served a great breakfast with free parking, and Dorothy sent her packing.

Dorothy plans to confront which sitting US president in Miami, only to be struck speechless?

George H. W. Bush may stop at the house on a 1990 visit, so a Secret Service agent vets the four women; Dorothy rehearses a lecture on education, then cannot get a word out when he arrives.

Which novel does Dorothy read to the injured star athlete she refused to pass?

Dorothy reads him A Tale of Two Cities in the hospital; the school had pressured her to pass him so he could play football, and he was hurt in the game.

Which future teen-sitcom star played a prize-winning pupil of Dorothy's in season two?

Mario Lopez, then 13, played a gifted boy whose winning essay brings immigration officers to the door; Dorothy stands by him at his deportation hearing.

Sophia's cross-dressing son Phil dies of what in the episode 'Ebbtide's Revenge'?

A heart attack kills Phil off screen; at the funeral Sophia feuds with his widow until she finally admits that she was ashamed of his cross-dressing.

In 1989, daytime reruns of The Golden Girls took over the NBC slot of which long-running game show?

Wheel of Fortune had been an NBC daytime fixture since 1975; when that edition moved to CBS in the summer of 1989, the network handed its 11:00 slot to the Girls.

The 2010 complete-series DVD box set came packaged as a replica of what?

Sophia's purse, the wicker bag she is never without, was copied for the 25th-anniversary set; on set it had a second use, as a place for its nervous owner to hide her lines.

Dorothy's surname came from Kent Zbornak, who held what job on The Golden Girls?

Stage manager Kent Zbornak was a friend and colleague of the show's creator, who borrowed his surname for Dorothy; he even has a brief cameo, tangled in Blanche's microphone cord.

Which future ER star played a young undercover cop staking out the neighbors on The Golden Girls?

George Clooney played detective Bobby Hopkins, who uses the women's house to spy on suspected jewel thieves next door and is shot during the raid.

Which future film director plays an Elvis impersonator at Sophia's wedding on The Golden Girls?

Quentin Tarantino was still unknown when he stood among the Elvis impersonators in the two-part 'Sophia's Wedding', a few years before Reservoir Dogs made his name.

Which movie star turns up at the house to take Sophia out in The Golden Girls episode 'Ladies of the Evening'?

Burt Reynolds plays himself: the other three miss his film premiere after being arrested in a hotel raid, so Sophia takes their tickets and goes alone.

The Golden Girls actress who played Dorothy drove trucks in World War II for which military branch?

The Marine Corps enlisted her in 1943 as one of the first members of its Women's Reserve. She worked as a typist, truck driver and dispatcher and left as a staff sergeant.

At a papal mass on The Golden Girls, what does Sophia steal from Pope John Paul II, horrifying Dorothy?

His ring, the papal Ring of the Fisherman, ends up with Sophia after she goes to the mass hoping to win a blessing for a friend in the hospital.

On The Golden Girls, Blanche's jacket, with a winning lottery ticket in the pocket, is bought for which pop star?

Michael Jackson wears it on stage and gives it to a charity auction. Sophia had sent it to a thrift shop by mistake, and the women end up giving the $10,000 prize to a homeless shelter.

On The Golden Girls, what do the women, especially Blanche, call the outdoor living space of their house?

The lanai takes its name from a Hawaiian word for a roofed, open-sided porch, and the sitcom is credited with teaching it to viewers far beyond Florida.

The actress who played Rose on The Golden Girls hosted which TV show at 88 after a Facebook fan campaign?

Saturday Night Live gave in after a Facebook group pleading for the booking neared half a million members. She became the oldest host the show had had and won an Emmy for it.

Which Golden Girls star had stage fright so severe that she tried hypnosis and wrote lines on props?

Estelle Getty would freeze on taping days, so cue cards were eventually brought in. Her trouble with lines was later thought to be an early sign of the dementia she developed.

Which game-show host plays himself when Dorothy auditions to be a quiz contestant on The Golden Girls?

Alex Trebek turns up with Jeopardy! announcer Johnny Gilbert and creator Merv Griffin after Dorothy overdoes her preparation for the show's local auditions.

Which TV legend plays Dorothy's lawyer boyfriend who quits to become a circus clown on The Golden Girls?

Dick Van Dyke earned an Emmy nomination as Ken, the attorney Dorothy expects to propose. Instead he announces he is leaving the law for the big top.

On The Golden Girls, Rose inherits a homesick farm animal named Baby from her late uncle; what is Baby?

A pig, and an elderly one: Blanche and Dorothy agree to keep him only on hearing they will share $100,000 when he dies, then relent and send him back to the farm.

On The Golden Girls, which leader's aides assume Rose is a child after her letter pleading for nuclear disarmament?

Mikhail Gorbachev is so touched by the letter that his representatives arrive to arrange a meeting, leaving Blanche and Dorothy to work out how to tell Rose.

The Golden Girls come home from whose concert to find they have been burgled in the episode 'Break-In'?

Madonna is the night out that ends badly: a shaken Rose buys a gun for protection, while Blanche's 'stolen' jewels turn out to have been misplaced all along.

In a holiday episode of The Golden Girls, a lonely man in which costume takes the women hostage at Rose's office?

Santa Claus holds them there until Sophia defuses the standoff. Their flights home are then canceled, so the four spend Christmas Eve together in a roadside diner.

The Golden Girls actress who played Sophia co-starred as which action star's meddling mother in a big-screen comedy?

Sylvester Stallone played the police sergeant whose visiting mother tags along on his cases. He later named the film, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, first among those he regretted making.

On The Golden Girls, Blanche fears she is pregnant, then is devastated when the doctor tells her what instead?

She has begun menopause: that is the shock in the season-two opener, 'End of the Curse', the episode that won the actress behind Blanche her Emmy for lead actress in a comedy.

Dorothy and Sophia sing which Sonny & Cher hit as their pageant talent act on The Golden Girls?

I Got You Babe put Sophia in a furry jacket and mustache as Sonny, opposite Dorothy as Cher in a black wig that hung down to her behind.

In the pilot of The Golden Girls, Blanche's wedding to Harry is called off when police arrest him for what?

Bigamy stops the ceremony at the last minute, in a pilot that also featured Coco, the live-in cook who was never seen again.

Dorothy on The Golden Girls was born to Sicilian immigrant parents in which New York City borough?

Brooklyn still holds the family's old apartment, which Sophia travels back to see in a later episode in the hope of recovering memories she has lost.

On a trip together in The Golden Girls, Dorothy wants quality time while Sophia only wants to ride what?

Space Mountain is all Sophia cares about on their trip to Walt Disney World, while Rose and Blanche stay home and try to write a children's book.

On The Golden Girls, Dorothy seeks help from a support group after relapsing into which old addiction?

Gambling takes hold again after a single visit to the racetrack: Dorothy starts skipping work and social plans to bet, then turns to Gamblers Anonymous.

In The Golden Girls episode 'Old Friends', Sophia's beach-bench companion Alvin turns out to have which condition?

Alzheimer's disease explains why the widower Alvin grows more and more erratic as they become close. The episode won the actress who played Sophia her Emmy.

In The Golden Girls episode 'Transplant', Blanche agrees to donate what to her estranged sister Virginia?

A kidney is what the dying Virginia needs. Blanche buries the hatchet and agrees, only to be ruled out as a donor, and another one is found.

On The Golden Girls, Blanche swears off sex out of fear after doctors fit her with which device?

A pacemaker leaves her so scared of intimacy that she decides to give up sex altogether, in the episode 'Like the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-Tom'.

On The Golden Girls, Blanche's daughter Rebecca plans to become a single mother with the help of what?

A sperm bank donor is Rebecca's choice. Blanche calls artificial insemination unnatural until Dorothy persuades her that a grown daughter makes her own decisions.

On The Golden Girls, what does Sophia do after the death of her friend Sister Agnes?

Joins a convent: the episode is 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?', a title that riffs on the nuns' song about Maria in The Sound of Music.

On The Golden Girls, a young Sunshine Cadet holds which treasured possession of Rose's for ransom?

Her teddy bear, given away by Blanche by mistake, lands with a little girl named Daisy, who refuses to hand it back without a payoff.

Dorothy and Sophia stake a trip to Italy on a tournament in which sport on The Golden Girls?

Bowling settles it: Sophia may accept her old flame Augustine's invitation to visit if her team wins, while Dorothy gets a piece of Sophia's jewelry if hers does.

On The Golden Girls, Blanche is furious when Rose beats her to which Shakespeare role in a local production?

Lady Macbeth goes to Rose, and Blanche has to settle for playing one of the witches.

The Golden Girls recall how they first met after watching which Hitchcock film in the season-one finale?

Psycho sets off the memories in 'The Way We Met', which reveals that Blanche nearly turned Rose down as a roommate until she saw her give a stray cat to a little boy.

On The Golden Girls, Dorothy spends the episode 'Adult Education' trying to get tickets to see which singer?

Frank Sinatra tickets keep slipping through Dorothy's fingers, while Blanche fends off a psychology professor who offers her an A if she will sleep with him.

On The Golden Girls, Blanche's father shocks her by selling the family home to pursue which new career?

Country singer is the new life he has in mind. David Wayne took over the part for the character's next visit after the death of Murray Hamilton, who first played him.

On The Golden Girls, which fear must Rose face when she flies to the Bahamas for her great-aunt's funeral?

Public speaking terrifies Rose, who has to deliver the eulogy. On the plane Dorothy admits she is afraid of flying, and Blanche relives a nightmare about a flight full of bald men.

On The Golden Girls, the Air Force gets involved after Rose insists she has seen what?

A UFO is what Rose reports, in the same episode in which Blanche sets out to seduce the only man who ever turned her down.

Sophia invests the Golden Girls' money in Pepe, an aspiring violinist who makes his living as what?

A boxer is Pepe's trade in 'Fiddler on the Ropes'. Actor Chick Vennera came back the following season in a different, recurring role.

Which cable network held exclusive US rerun rights to The Golden Girls from 1997 until 2009?

Lifetime ran the repeats for twelve years, though many episodes were edited to make room for more commercials.

Which comedian played hotel chef Chuy Castillos in the sequel series to The Golden Girls?

Cheech Marin played one of only two employees left when the women take over the hotel, whose previous owners had stripped out the staff to make it look profitable.

In 2009, all four stars of The Golden Girls were honored together with which title?

Disney Legends was open to them because the sitcom was made under Disney's Touchstone Television label, only the second series the company produced that way.

Mitchell Hurwitz, a writer on the final two seasons of The Golden Girls, later created which Fox sitcom?

Arrested Development was later revived by Netflix; his Golden Girls scripts included 'Zborn Again', in which Dorothy's old feelings for her ex-husband resurface.

Which Hollywood veteran played Rocco, Sophia's boyfriend who boasts of a gangster past, on The Golden Girls?

Mickey Rooney plays the boastful Rocco, who leaves behind a bag stuffed with thousands of dollars and convinces the women that he has robbed a bank.

Which former M*A*S*H star played Stan's younger brother Ted, a doctor who beds Dorothy, on The Golden Girls?

McLean Stevenson plays Ted as a charmer who treats Dorothy as a one-night stand, and she gets even by telling everyone that he is impotent.

Which Cocoon star played Brother Martin, who turns out to be Rose's biological father, on The Golden Girls?

Don Ameche plays the father Rose meets by chance while volunteering at a hospital, in an episode that brought the actress behind Rose an Emmy nomination.

On The Golden Girls, Stan's visiting cousin Magda, who keeps praising Communism, comes from which country?

Czechoslovakia is home for Magda, played by Marian Mercer. She wears out her welcome while Blanche feuds with a sister over a romance novel whose heroine is plainly Blanche.

Which Spinal Tap star supplied the voice of the visiting US President in The Golden Girls?

Harry Shearer is heard but not seen in the season-five finale, in which a Secret Service agent runs background checks on the women before a possible presidential visit.

On The Golden Girls, what did the stand run by Sophia's husband and his partner Max Weinstock sell?

Pizza and knishes were the menu. After Sophia marries the widowed Max they reopen the stand at the beach, but it burns down and the pair decide to part.

The actress behind Blanche on The Golden Girls said the character saw herself as a Southern heroine like which star?

Vivien Leigh was the model: the character, she said, believed an exaggerated Southern accent would be 'sexy and strong and attractive to men'.

On The Golden Girls, Blanche learns that one great-grandmother was a Jewish Yankee from which northern city?

Buffalo is the family secret that surfaces just as Blanche is petitioning to join the Daughters of the Old South.

What is the name of Blanche's favorite hangout, where Dorothy's singing wins over the men, on The Golden Girls?

The Rusty Anchor is Blanche's regular hangout, and she gets more than she bargained for when the lonely Dorothy she brings along becomes a hit with all the guys.

Which actress played Mammy Watkins, who reveals a long-ago affair with Blanche's father, on The Golden Girls?

Ruby Dee plays the woman who helped raise Blanche, arriving unannounced in an episode that also has Sophia hiring a matchmaker to find Dorothy a date.