Dorothy Zbornak

The Golden Girls article

"It's like we say in St. Olaf, Christmas without fruitcake is like St. Sigmund's Day without the headless boy." This article is incomplete. You can help the Golden Girls Wiki by expanding it.

“Shady Pines, Ma!”

— Dorothy's favorite threat quote against her mother when her mother tries to act brashly

Dorothy Zbornak-Hollingsworth (née Petrillo) is one of the four main characters on the 1985 NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and its spin-off, The Golden Palace. A sardonic, introspective, compassionate, and protective substitute teacher, Dorothy moved to Miami, Florida, after her then-husband Stanley divorced her to run off with a stewardess. Along with her mother Sophia and her friend Rose, Dorothy rented a room in the Miami home of her friend Blanche Devereaux. Dorothy often acts as den mother and voice of reason among the quartet, though at times she also acted foolishly or negatively and would need her friends and family to help ground her again.

Dorothy appeared in all seven seasons of The Golden Girls, and appeared twice in the series' short-lived sequel, The Golden Palace. She was portrayed by the late veteran actress and Broadway stage actress, Beatrice Arthur.

Personality and Characteristics

Dorothy's character tends to be a strong-minded, compassionate, witty and introspective; and oftentimes sarcastic, fierce, and intimidating. Dorothy is also very intelligent, practical, no-nonsense and a known bookworm. Arguably, Dorothy is the most grounded out of the four girls in the house. Furthermore, she is incredibly protective of those she loves and cares for and those she considers family. Dorothy often was mocked by her two housemates, Rose and Blanche, as manly, strappy, tough, and a bit odd due to her stature of 5'10" and her deep voice. She can also be highly sarcastic and blunt, saying it for what it is as well as being rude and unreasonable at times, especially towards her less-sharp housemate, Rose.

However, Dorothy is also in possession of many positive traits such as being a voice of reason to her housemates and her best friends, Rose and Blanche. Despite the ridicule, Dorothy regards the three other women to be family, comforting to them and often giving great and forward-thinking advice. She often acts as the bigger person in tough situations to straighten up Rose's and Blanche's small misfortunes and losses. Dorothy helps to ground Rose and Blanche during their difficulties, often calling out hypocrisy, cruelty, injustices, and such negative behaviors and acts from others against her best friends with her 'as-is' blunt remarks. Moreover, Dorothy also has quite some talents. In "Journey to the Center of Attention", she is able to upstage Blanche at the latter's favorite bar, The Rusty Anchor, by singing and thus winning the admiration of Blanche's many suitors.^[1] At another point, remembering how funny Dorothy could be in high school, Dorothy attempts some stand-up comedy. In the end, Dorothy wins over her audience by poking fun at her own life and bringing such subjects up such as as menopause.

Dorothy is a relatively intelligent person, but her intelligence can lead her to be rude, inconsiderate, blunt, and sometimes foolish. Many times, her over-confidence and self-sabotaging mindset alienates herself from others. In "Dorothy's New Friend", she befriended a local author and novelist named Barbara Thorndike, and initially ignored Rose and Blanche after they told her that Barbara insulted them to their faces. However, Barbara revealed she is willing to accept an elite club's rules of no Jewish customers. Finding this out, Dorothy realized what a bad person Barbara was and, without blinking, ordered her to leave and never return before telling her to go to hell.^[2] In the Season 7 episode "Questions and Answers", Dorothy studied extremely hard when the girls tried out for Jeopardy!, and Sophia warned Dorothy that she may be overdoing it. During the Jeopardy game, Dorothy has much confidence and does seemingly well within the handful of rounds. However, she does not advance to the next round. When Dorothy realized she would not be earning the prize money, and she studied all for nearly nothing, she breaks down and cries. Sophia comes to her rescue and reminds Dorothy that she can get over-confident, which is one of the biggest reasons as to why Dorothy didn't have many birthday parties growing up...and never went to birthday parties growing up.^[3]

In spite of her strengths, Dorothy has several phobias including hospitals and flying. She eventually managed to conquer both her fears with the help of her best friends, Rose and Blanche. In keeping with the show's practice of raising social awareness, the two-part episode "Sick and Tired" involved Dorothy suffering from extreme exhaustion, which was ultimately determined to be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.^[4] Dorothy was also shown to have a recurring gambling problem that eventually caused her to seek help through Gamblers Anonymous. She started smoking cigarettes again after quitting many years earlier, because of stress from her mother's remarriage in "Sophia's Wedding, Part 1".^[5] Presumably, Dorothy was able to kick the smoking habit, as she wasn't seen with a cigarette since.

While Dorothy has had a semi-active love life, her choices in men have not always been favorable. Her longest relationship was with her first husband, Stanley Zbornak, with whom she was with for a period of thirty-eight years following a shotgun wedding in their senior year of high-school. Stan repeatedly cheated on her throughout her marriage to him, including with a breakfast bar waitress, his own secretary, and finally an airline stewardess whom he left her for. In the series finale, Dorothy marries her second husband Lucas Hollingsworth, becoming the step-aunt of her friend Blanche, and moves out of the Miami house.^[6]

Biography

Childhood

“Sophia: You know why I call you pussycat, Pussycat?
Dorothy: Why, Ma? Because you only gave me yarn for Christmas? Because you fed me once and I hung around? Because you used to put me out at night?
Sophia: Because I love pussycats, and I love you.”

— Sophia telling Dorothy why she calls her "pussycat".

Dorothy is a first-generation American, born to Italian immigrants Sophia and Salvadore Petrillo. Sophia mentions Dorothy was conceived after her and Salvadore's first argument as newlyweds -- on July 31st, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, right atop a pinochle table at McSoley's Bar^[7] -- and she was born after twenty-three hours of labor.^[8] She was born just minutes apart from Gina Bosco, which led to Gina's mother Philomena and Sophia becoming friends.^[9]

Dorothy had two younger siblings: Phillip Petrillo, who was a blatant free-loader and spent a good deal of his time with an interest in cross-dressing, and Gloria Petrillo-Harker, who would marry into money and move with her wealthy husband to California. Dorothy mentioned she and Phil remained relatively close and maintained affection for one another well into their adulthood. They kept in touch possibly through phone calls. On the other hand, Dorothy and Gloria resented each other, with Gloria often believing Dorothy was the favorite child and Dorothy believing that Gloria was judgmental. Through a brief while, Dorothy and Gloria grew apart over the years and became estranged.

Growing up, Dorothy was quite the bookworm and an over-achiever in high school. Sophia revealed that Dorothy's IQ stands well around 173, which is massively impressive and would rank Dorothy as possessing a genius-level intellect. However, Sophia acted a tad brashly and that IQ turned out to be a lie.^[10] When Dorothy was five, her father took her to get her tonsils taken out and left her at the hospital because he needed to work to pay for the operation. This caused Dorothy to develop a fear of hospitals which persisted well into her golden years.^[8] She would also torment her sister Gloria with scary bedtime stories, such as "The Boogeyman and the Little Girl", "The Zombie in the Hamper", and "Cannibal Parents".

When Dorothy was six, she begged her mother to get her a pony, but Sophia got her a paper bird from the circus instead. Sophia insisted that if Dorothy behaved well enough, God would turn the paper bird into a real bird. Dorothy took her at her word and kept at her best behavior, eventually becoming very attached to the paper bird. One morning, she woke up and found her paper bird had "died", as someone had used it to restart the pilot light.^[11]

Teenage Years

As a teenager, Dorothy suffered from quite extensively low self-esteem. In high school, she had an emotionally-abusive boyfriend whom she split from within a short while. Due to her less than lackluster love life, Dorothy's trust in men began to dwindle. Her first true love, however, appeared in high school in the form of Barry Glick, a handsome young man whom Dorothy wanted to be her first time.^[12]

At seventeen,^[13] Dorothy intended to go to the prom with classmate John Noretti. However, on the night of the prom, John stood Dorothy up and left her heartbroken. Unknown to Dorothy, however, John had shown up and her mother had turned him away after seeing his complete lack of respect for himself and others -- showing up dressed like a "hood" and mouthing off to Sophia.^[14] After being stood up, Dorothy went to the prom with Stanley Zbornak because she felt as if she could not do any better. Dorothy had too much to drink at the senior prom, and later had sex with Stan in a Chevy at a drive-in movie. One of their dates, allegedly at Coney Island, resulted in Dorothy becoming pregnant.^[15] The show says this conception happened while Dorothy was drunk, which Sophia blames on Stan's actions and peer pressure. Dorothy later claims she was unconscious and wonders if Stan "slipped" her something in her drink. In another episode, Dorothy recalls Stan guilting her into sex by claiming he was drafted to the military and could die in combat in Korea.

Marriage to Stanley Zbornak

Upon learning she was pregnant, Dorothy feared she may be a single mother should Stan die in Korea, and felt obligated to Stan being pregnant with his child. However, soon enough, Dorothy's father learned she was pregnant and, after chasing Stan down three blocks with a salami,^[16] demanded Dorothy marry Stan as soon as possible. When Stan proposed to Dorothy, he took her to an expensive restaurant and while she was in the powder room, he ordered a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne and put an engagement ring in Dorothy's glass. When Dorothy returned, they toasted the evening and Dorothy downed the champagne -- and the ring -- in one gulp. She accepted Stan's proposal, and the ring "turned up" three days later.^[17]

Dorothy tried to break things off with Stan before their wedding, but was unable to go through with it. One day, at Sophia's insistence, Dorothy went to a coffee shop to break up with Stan and found him necking with a waitress. Despite that, she was still unable to go through with it.^[18]

Dorothy and Stan dropped out of high school just shy of their graduation, which resulted in a shotgun wedding. "An Illegitimate Concern" sets their wedding date on June 1st, 1949,^[19] while "One for the Money" says the wedding occurred in May 1944,^[20] though that doesn't align with Dorothy's age in Season 1 and other episodes indicating she was still in high school in 1945 and 1946.

Living in Miami

During their honeymoon to Miami, Florida, Dorothy and Stan bought property in the city and decided to move there.^[21] Dorothy completed her high school education and attends college, majoring in American history. She befriended her college roommate, Jean, and when Jean realizes years afterward that she is a lesbian, Dorothy accepts her.^[22] During this time, Dorothy also taught part-time at a school for the blind. She learned French and became a high school teacher, and later a substitute teacher, teaching mainly English and American History. Dorothy was a very dedicated and strong-willed teacher, earning the nickname "Attila The Sub" from some students. During this time, she becomes godmother to a friend's daughter, Jenny. She and Stan also had a son named Michael, whom Dorothy would occasionally clash with due to the boy's habit of avoiding responsibility and reluctance to plan ahead.

The Zbornak marriage involved many arguments and compromises, including years of struggle when Stan's business fails, but Dorothy later claims there were also many happy times together. Unknown to Dorothy until after their divorce, Stan would have numerous extramarital affairs with younger women, including his airheaded secretary and a waitress at a breakfast bar. Perhaps his most egregious affair was taking a woman to Las Vegas for several days and telling Dorothy that he was going to a chain link fence convention.^[23] According to Dorothy, the last time Stan sent her roses was when Harry Truman left office in 1953.

At some point in her adult life, Dorothy developed a gambling addiction and spent hundreds upon hundreds of dollars at the racetrack, with her parents helpless to stop it. She ended up spending so much money that she had to borrow money from loan sharks, but was unable to pay it back. Now in peril of losing her house, Dorothy went to her parents, desperate for their help. Sal and Sophia ended up cashing out Sal's life insurance policy to help Dorothy pay back her debts, but Sophia refused to give Dorothy the money unless she went to Gambler's Anonymous.^[24]

At some point before her divorce, Dorothy and Stan fell on hard times and had to go ask his mother Yolanda for a $500 loan. While Stan left to pretend to make a phone call, Yolanda gave Dorothy $1,000 cash under the condition that she never told Stan it came from her. Dorothy then learned that Stan's mother actually respected her, and was only pretending to hate her so Stan wouldn't hang around the house all the time.^[25]

Some time after Dorothy's grandmother passed, Sal passed away as well. His exact date of and age at death are unknown, but he may have died from an illness as Sophia mentioned he was in a hospital the night he died.^[26] The night he died, Sophia went looking for Dorothy and found her in the maternity ward looking at the babies.^[26] Sometime after Sal passed away, Sophia suffered from a stroke that destroyed the part of her brain that censored what she said. Stanley convinced Dorothy to put Sophia in a retirement home called Shady Pines,

Divorce

“Rose, he left me thirty-eight years later for a stewardess that he met on a business trip to Hawaii. It was her first flight. They said, ‘On arrival, give the passengers a lei.’ She got confused, he got lucky, and they now live on Maui.”

— Dorothy explaining her divorce to Rose, "The Engagement" (1985)^[27]

In 1983, Stan had a one-night stand with an airline stewardess named Chrissy while he was on a business trip to Maui, Hawaii. Stan chose to abandon Dorothy after thirty-eight years of marriage, and sent word of the divorce through a divorce lawyer rather than facing Dorothy himself. A furious Dorothy filed for divorce, and she and Stan were soon officially divorced -- after which, Dorothy's first post-divorce date was with the divorce lawyer.^[28] Dorothy got the house and their children in the divorce proceedings, while Stan ended up making off with the Frank Sinatra tickets he'd bought Dorothy for her birthday that year.^[29]

Dorothy eventually moved out of her house to rent a room in order to save money. She brought Sophia along to interview a room-for-rent ad placed by Blanche Devereaux, a wealthy widow from Atlanta, Georgia. Blanche accepted Dorothy's application, but didn't tell her that she had gotten a second roommate -- widowed St. Olafian Rose Nylund.^[30]

In 1985, Sophia moved in with Dorothy after Shady Pines was destroyed in a fire.

Seasons Changing

In the episode "Foreign Exchange", a surprise visit from family friends Dominic and Philomena Bosco left Dorothy wondered whether she was truly her mother's daughter. The Boscos initially believed their daughter, Gina, may not be their biological daughter, and the hospital could have switched the babies by accident. As both Gina and Dorothy believe everything they worked through their lives may have been a lie, they decide to do a DNA test. Sophia begins to cry, terrified that she may have lived her whole life not knowing if Dorothy was truly her daughter. However, the results were positive, and everyone rejoices at the news that the babies were right where they belonged.^[9]

Remarriage

In the series finale, Blanche's uncle Lucas Hollingsworth comes to visit, and Blanche sets him up with a date with Dorothy in order to keep a date she'd made with another man. Upon meeting at a restaurant, Dorothy and Lucas quickly realize that Blanche lied to both of them and plot to get back at her by pretending to have fallen in love, with Lucas faking a marriage proposal the next day. While their ruse is a success, Dorothy and Lucas soon realize the joke has gone too far and pretend to break up in front of Blanche, but also tenderly admit they enjoyed their time together. Before Dorothy and Lucas can share a genuine kiss, Blanche apologizes for her overreaction and gives her blessing to Dorothy and Lucas' relationship. Lucas then surprises everyone by turning and proposing to Dorothy "for real" this time, and Dorothy accept

Dorothy also appeared in only two episodes of The Golden Girls short-lived sequel and successor, The Golden Palace.

Family tree

Mr. Petrillo †

Mrs. Petrillo †

Don Angelo Grisanti, Sr. †

Eleanor †

Uncle Nunzio †

Aunt Teresa †

Aunt Renata

Uncle Bruno †

Uncle Vito

Uncle Gino †

Salvadore Petrillo †

Sophia Petrillo

Regina Grisanti

Angela Vecchio

Carmine Vecchio †

Angelo Grisanti, Jr.

Philomena Grisanti †

Uncle Mario †

Stanley Zbornak

Dorothy Zbornak

Gloria Harker

Mr. Harker

Phillip Petrillo †

Angela Petrillo

Cousin Apollonia

Cousin Graziella

Dennis Griffiths

Kate Griffiths

Michael Zbornak

Lorraine Wagner

Katherine Harker

Jim Harker

Harvey Petrillo

Five sons

Four daughters

										Robby Zbornak

Career

For the most part, Dorothy worked as a high school substitute teacher, specifically in American History (which was her college major) as well as English. In "Yes, We Have No Havanas", she taught part-time for an night school course for adults wishing to complete their General Education Diploma (GED), which included Rose. It is learned Dorothy quit the night school as she found out none of the adult students really wanted to learn, save for Rose.^[31]

Dorothy also became a landlady after her former uncle-in-law passed away and left his apartment building to Dorothy and Stan.^[32] Dorothy also had some summer part-time jobs, included tutoring. She also did some acting at the local theater and even did a few attempted gigs of stand-up comedy.^[33]

• Caterer: For a time, Sophia and her roommates ran a wedding planning business called Miami Moms Catering. However, they ended up losing out on a sizable amount of money after their first client decided to elope with her fiancé.^[34]
• Football Coach: For a brief time, both Rose and Dorothy attempted to coach a children's football team. However, Rose's overly-competitive nature led Dorothy to quit the team, as Rose and the kids cared more about winning than actually following the rules.^[35]
• Museum Attendant: Dorothy briefly worked alongside with Blanche at the art museum, which caused Blanche to become jealous of her after Dorothy appeared to have become the museum manager's favorite. In reality, their manager had trusted Dorothy to plan a surprise party for Blanche to thank her for all of the work she had put into the museum.^[36]
• Stand-Up Comic: After finding a list of things she'd always wanted to do, Dorothy decided to try her hand at stand-up comedy. While her show was a hit, Dorothy decided that it would be a one-time thing as she was happy with her life the way it was.^[33]

Health

In "The Operation", Dorothy developed Morton's neuroma, and had to get an operation to heal her foot.^[8]

In Season 5, Dorothy was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Appearances

The Golden Girls (1985-1992)

Season 1
1. "The Engagement":	Debut	14. "That Was No Lady":	Appears
2. "Guess Who's Coming to the Wedding":	Appears	15. "In a Bed of Rose's":	Appears
3. "Rose the Prude":	Appears	16."The Truth Will Out":	Appears
4. "Transplant":	Appears	17. "Nice and Easy":	Appears
5. "The Triangle":	Appears	18. "The Operation":	Appears
6. "On Golden Girls":	Appears	19. "Second Motherhood":	Appears
7. "The Competition":	Appears	20. "Adult Education":	Appears
8. "Break-In":	Appears	21. "The Flu":	Appears
9. "Blanche and the Younger Man":	Appears	22. "Job Hunting":	Appears
10. "The Heart Attack":	Appears	23. "Blind Ambitions":	Appears
11. "The Return of Dorothy's Ex":	Appears	24. "Big Daddy":	Appears
12. "The Custody Battle":	Appears	25. "The Way We Met":	Appears
13. "A Little Romance":	Appears

Season 2
1. "End of the Curse":	Appears	14. "The Actor":	Appears
2. "Ladies of the Evening":	Appears	15. "Before and After":	Appears
3. "Take Him, He's Mine":	Appears	16."And Then There Was One":	Appears
4. "It's a Miserable Life":	Appears	17. "Bedtime Story":	Appears
5. "Isn't It Romantic":	Appears	18. "Forgive Me, Father":	Appears
6. "Big Daddy's Little Lady":	Appears	19. "Long Day's Journey into Marinara":	Appears
7. "Family Affair":	Appears	20. "Whose Face is This, Anyway?":	Appears
8. "Vacation":	Appears	21. "Dorothy's Prized Pupil":	Appears
9. "Joust Between Friends":	Appears	22. "Diamond in the Rough":	Appears
10. "Love, Rose":	Appears	23. "Son-in-Law Dearest":	Appears
11. "'Twas The Nightmare Before Christmas":	Appears	24. "To Catch a Neighbor":	Appears
12. "The Sisters":	Appears	25. "A Piece of Cake":	Appears
13. "The Stan Who Came to Dinner":	Appears	26. "Empty Nests":	Appears

Season 3
1. "Old Friends":	Appears	14. "Blanche's Little Girl":	Appears
2. "One for the Money":	Appears	15. "Dorothy's New Friend":	Appears
3. "Bringing Up Baby":	Appears	16."Grab That Dough":	Appears
4. "The Housekeeper":	Appears	17. "My Brother, My Father":	Appears
5. "Nothing to Fear But Fear Itself":	Appears	18. "Golden Moments, Part 1":	Appears
6. "Letter to Gorbachev":	Appears	19. "Golden Moments, Part 2":	Appears
7. "Strange Bedfellows":	Appears	20. "And Ma Makes Three":	Appears
8. "Brotherly Love":	Appears	21. "Larceny and Old Lace":	Appears
9. "A Visit from Little Sven":	Appears	22. "Rose's Big Adventure":	Appears
10. "The Audit":	Appears	23. "Mixed Blessings":	Appears
11. "Three on a Couch":	Appears	24. "Mister Terrific":	Appears
12. "Charlie's Buddy":	Appears	25. "Mother's Day":	Absent
13. "The Artist":	Appears

Season 4
1. "Yes, We Have No Havanas":	Appears	14. "Love Me Tender":	Appears
2. "The Days and Nights of Sophia Petrillo":	Appears	15. "Valentine's Day":	Appears
3. "The One That Got Away":	Appears	16."Two Rode Together":	Appears
4. "Yokel Hero":	Appears	17. "You Gotta Have Hope":	Appears
5. "Bang the Drum, Stanley":	Appears	18. "Fiddler On the Ropes":	Appears
6. "Sophia's Wedding, Part 1":	Appears	19. "Till Death Do We Volley":	Appears
7. "Sophia's Wedding, Part 2":	Appears	20. "High Anxiety":	Appears
8. "Brother, Can You Spare That Jacket":	Appears	21. "Little Sister":	Appears
9. "Scared Straight":	Appears	22. "Sophia's Choice":	Appears
10. "Stan Takes a Wife":	Appears	23. "Rites of Spring":	Appears
11. "The Auction":	Appears	24. "Foreign Exchange":	Appears
12. "Blind Date":	Appears	25. "We're Outta Here, Part 1":	Appears
13. "The Impotence of Being Ernest":	Appears	26. "We're Outta Here, Part 2":	Appears

Season 5
1. "Sick and Tired, Part 1":	Appears	14. "Mary Has a Little Lamb":	Appears
2. "Sick and Tired, Part 2":	Appears	15. "Triple Play":	Appears
3. "The Accurate Conception":	Appears	16."Clinton Avenue Memoirs":	Appears
4. "Rose Fights Back":	Appears	17. "Like the Beep Beep Beep of the Tom-Tom":	Appears
5. "Love Under the Big Top":	Appears	18. "An Illegitimate Concern":	Appears
6. "Dancing in the Dark":	Appears	19. "72 Hours":	Appears
7. "Not Another Monday":	Appears	20. "Twice In a Lifetime":	Appears
8. "That Old Feeling":	Appears	21. "Sisters and Other Strangers":	Appears
9. "Comedy of Errors":	Appears	22. "Cheaters":	Appears
10. "All That Jazz":	Appears	23. "The Mangiacavallo Curse Makes a Lousy Wedding Present":	Appears
11. "Ebb Tide":	Appears	24. "All Bets Are Off":	Appears
12. "Have Yourself a Very Little Christmas":	Appears	25/26. "The President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 1":	Appears
13. "Blind Date":	Absent	26. "The President's Coming! The President's Coming!, Part 2":	Appears

Season 6
1. "Blanche Delivers":	Appears	14. "Sister of the Bride":	Appears
2. "Once, In St. Olaf":	Appears	15. "Miles to Go":	Appears
3. "If At Last You Do Succeed":	Appears	16. "There Goes the Bride, Part 1":	Appears
4. "Snap Out Of It":	Appears	17. "There Goes the Bride, Part 2":	Appears
5. "Wham, Bam, Thank You Mammy":	Appears	18. "Older and Wiser":	Appears
6. "Feelings":	Appears	19. "Melodrama":	Appears
7. "Zborn Again":	Appears	20. "Even Grandmas Get the Blues":	Appears
8. "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?":	Appears	21. "Witness":	Appears
9. "Mrs. George Devereaux":	Appears	22. "What a Difference a Date Makes":	Appears
10. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun... Before They Die":	Appears	23. "Love for Sale":	Appears
11. "Stand By Your Man":	Appears	24. "Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 1":	Appears
12. "Ebbtide's Revenge":	Appears	25. "Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home, Part 2":	Appears
13. "The Bloom Is Off the Rose":	Appears	26. "Henny Penny — Straight, No Chaser":	Absent

Season 7
1. "Hey, Look Me Over":	Appears	14. "Old Boyfriends":	Appears
2. "The Case of the Libertine Belle":	Appears	15. "Goodbye, Mr. Gordon":	Appears
3. "Beauty and the Beast":	Appears	16. "The Commitments":	Appears
4. "That's For Me To Know":	Appears	17. "Questions and Answers":	Appears
5. "Where's Charlie?":	Appears	18. "Ebbtide VI: The Wrath of Stan]":	Appears
6. "Mother Load":	Appears	19. "Journey to the Center of Attention":	Appears
7. "Dateline: Miami":	Appears	20. "A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 1":	Appears
8. "The Monkey Show, Part 1":	Appears	21. "A Midwinter Night's Dream, Part 2":	Appears
9. "The Monkey Show, Part 2":	Appears	22. "Rose: Portrait of a Woman":	Appears
10. "Ro$e Love$ Mile$":	Appears	23. "Home Again, Rose, Part 1":	Appears
11. "Room 7":	Appears	24. "Home Again, Rose, Part 2":	Appears
12. "From Here to the Pharmacy":	Appears	25. "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 1":	Absent
13. "The Pope's Ring":	Absent	26. "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2":	Absent

Empty Nest (1988-1995)

Season 1
1. "Pilot":	Absent	12. "Full Nest":	Absent
2. "The Check Isn't in The Mail":	Absent	13. "Here's A Howdy-Do":	Absent
3. "Barbara Gets A Shot":	Absent	14."Strange Bedfellows":	Absent
4. "Fatal Attraction":	Mentioned	15. "Tears of a Clown":	Absent
5. "Father of the Bride":	Absent	16. "Blame It on the Moon":	Absent
6. "Harry's Vacation":	Absent	17. "Dumped":	Debut
7. "Tinker to Evers to Tucson":	Absent	18. "The More Things Change":	Absent
8. "What's a Father to Do?":	Absent	19. "Man of the Year":	Absent
9. "Harry's Friend":	Absent	20. "Cyrano de Weston":	Absent
10. "Libby's Gift":	Absent	21. "My Sister, My Friend":	Absent
11. "The First Time, Again":	Absent	22. "A Life in the Day":	Absent

The Golden Palace (1992-1993)

Season 1
1. "The Golden Palace":	Absent	13. "Rose and Fern":	Absent
2. "Promotional Considerations":	Absent	14. "Runaways":	Absent
3. "Miles, We Hardly Knew Ye":	Absent	15."Heartbreak Hotel":	Absent
4. "One Old Lady to Go":	Absent	16. "Señor Stinky Learns Absolutely Nothing About Life":	Absent
5. "Ebbtide for the Defense:	Absent	17. "Say Goodbye, Rose":	Absent
6. "Can't Stand Losing You":	Absent	18. "You've Lost That Livin' Feeling":	Absent
7. "Seems Like Old Times (Part 1)":	Appears	19. "The Chicken and the Egg":	Absent
8. "Seems Like Old Times (Part 2)":	Appears	20. "A New Leash on Life":	Absent
9. "Just a Gigolo":	Absent	21. "Pros and Concierge":	Absent
10. "Marriage on the Rocks, with a Twist":	Absent	22. "Tad":	Absent
11. "Camp Town Races Aren't Nearly as Much Fun as They Used to Be":	Absent	23. "One Angry Stan":	Absent
12. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot (Less) Like Christmas":	Absent	24. "Sex, Lies and Tortillas":	Absent

Casting and Development

“The first thing I noticed about The Golden Girls pilot was that it was a beautiful script. It had an extra character, a gay house man, who was very charming. But, they cut him by the very next episode. I don't think they had any idea that just the four of us would be so strong together. And we were lucky enough to have brilliant writers on the show and a fabulous director, Terry Hughes. It was a great combination of all elements.”

— Beatrice Arthur in an interview^[37]

In her show Elaine Stritch at Liberty, British actress Elaine Stritch claimed to have been considered for the role at one point but that she "blew her audition" by improvising colorful language and so was not cast as Dorothy. Stritch fit the "Bea Arthur type" description and had actually played a version of Arthur's character Maude in Nobody's Perfect, a British adaptation of Maude broadcast in 1980 by ITV. Following Stritch's auditions, others read for the role, but news of the series eventually made its way to Arthur herself: "This is so funny. My agent called me and said, 'What is this? I hear you're doing a new series... Something called Golden Girls.'" Bea Arthur and her agent investigated and discovered that several women had auditioned for a role described as "a Bea Arthur type" and it had led to a rumor that she was herself involved. At the time Arthur had taken a position as the spokeswoman for Shoppers Drug Mart, a Canadian drugstore chain (a role she would continue concurrently with her role as Dorothy). Arthur then requested to see the script, but still hesitated to join the cast after learning that the other two leads -- the sexually forward Blanche and the sheltered and sometimes naive Rose were to be respectively portrayed by Rue McClanahan, who had co-starred with her as Vivian Harmon on Maude, and Betty White, known for playing flirtatious, sexually liberated Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Arthur believed the show was typecasting both of them, assuming that McClanahan was portraying Rose and White would portray Blanche.

The producers asked McClanahan to reach out to Arthur. When she did, Arthur said, "Rue, I'm not interested in playing Maude and Vivian Meet Sue Ann Nivens." McClanahan explained that while that had been the original idea, the plan had been changed; McClanahan would play Blanche and White would be playing Rose. Impressed that the producers were subverting expectations rather than typecasting, and after further discussion with McClanahan, Arthur agreed to play Dorothy Zbornak.

Arthur said that she was fortunate in being allowed to shape her characters in both Maude and The Golden Girls along with the writers. On July 7, 1995, on an episode of the British daytime talk show This Morning, she explained, "In both sitcoms that I did do, we were given... the opportunity of saying, 'No, I don't think I'd say that'... It was really give-and-take between the writers and actors... I was blessed that we had wonderful people."^[38] Arthur considered Dorothy to be "the great leveler" and the "great balloon pricker," someone who openly defied and called out hypocrisy, injustice, cruelty, delusion, short-sighted remarks, and behavior she simply found dull, ill-considered, rude, or unreasonable.

Bea Arthur portrayed Dorothy in every episode of The Golden Girls, and also portrayed Dorothy's maternal grandmother Eleanor Grisanti in flashback in the episode "Mother's Day". In the same episode and others that involve flashbacks, a younger version of Dorothy was portrayed by Lynnie Green. In the Season 5 episode "Clinton Avenue Memoirs", Jandi Swanson portrayed Dorothy as a child in flashback. Arthur's departure from the show in the two-part Season 7 finale "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest" marked the end of the series as well.

Trivia

• Dorothy's astrology sign is a Leo, as stated in "Stan Takes a Wife".^[39]
• In the 1,000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Dorothy was selected as the grandma for Entertainment Weekly's Perfect TV Family.
• According to Dorothy herself, she was the tallest baby in New York and had a rash on her head until she was two.^[40]
• Bea Arthur considered Dorothy to be the "great balloon pricker," someone who openly defied and called out hypocrisy, injustice, cruelty, delusion, short-sighted remarks, and behavior she simply found dull, ill-considered, rude, or unreasonable.
• Dorothy was called "Pussycat" by her mother and "Spumoni Face" by her father. In "Mary Has a Little Lamb", it is revealed that children in Dorothy's childhood called her "Moose".^[41]
• Dorothy has a sock drawer full of retirement home brochures, which she reads when Sophia drives her crazy and she needs some "private time".
• Dorothy's exact graduation date isn't known. In "Till Death Do We Volley", it is said Dorothy attended her high school prom in 1946, though it is not mentioned if this was during her senior year or if she was younger (as some high schools have junior proms, junior/senior proms, and proms that allow anyone in high school to attend).^[42] A later episode, "An Illegitimate Concern", implies her graduation date would have been 1949.^[19]
• Dorothy's wedding dress in "One Flew Out of the Cuckoo's Nest, Part 2" has been negatively received online, and Bea Arthur admitted that she hated it.

Site Navigation

V - E - H The Golden Girls characters
Main Cast	Blanche Devereaux • Dorothy Zbornak • Rose Nylund • Sophia Petrillo
Recurring Cast	Miles Webber • Salvadore Petrillo • Stanley Zbornak
Family members	Alma Lindstrom • Angelo Grisanti, Jr. • Angela Petrillo • Angela Vecchio • Aurora Devereaux • Bridget Nylund • Brother Martin • Charmaine Hollingsworth • Charles Nylund, Sr. • Clayton Hollingsworth • Curtis Hollingsworth • Don Angelo Grisanti, Sr. • Elizabeth Hollingsworth • Gloria Harker • Gunter Lindstrom • Holly Lindstrom • David Blackmore • Jamie Devereaux • Janet Blackmore • Jim Harker • Kate Griffiths • Lucas Hollingsworth • Lucy Warren • Michael Zbornak • Phillip Petrillo • Rebecca Devereaux • Theodore Hollingsworth • Virginia Warren

References