The Golden Girls followed four women living out their golden years under one roof in Miami, eating cheesecake and cracking jokes that still make fans laugh.
While Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty pulled in fans week after week as main characters, Dorthy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia, respectively, the show also boasted a slew of A-list guest stars. Icons like Dick Van Dyke, George Clooney (pre-ER) and Debbie Reynolds all made cameos on the NBC sitcom during its seven-season run.
“They could get away with stuff that if those women were 30, they could’ve never said on network television,” Clooney said of the actresses during an October 2022 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. “But they could do anything they wanted, and they would get away with it. It was so much fun.”
That humor and sarcasm are part of the reason 40 years after The Golden Girls premiered in 1985 that it is still remembered and watched by fans of all ages.
Take a look back with Us at which stars had guest spots alongside the fab four before the series wrapped in 1992:
Bob Hope
Rose (White) reveals that she’s sure the legendary comic, Bob Hope, is her father in the 1989 episode “You Gotta Have Hope.” Hope’s appearance fee? Ten Ronald Reagan jokes, written by the show’s scribes, that he could use that year at his Bob Hope Desert Classic golf tournament.
Leslie Nielsen
Airplane! actor Leslie Nielsen helped bring the series to a close with the two-part finale “One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1992. As Blanche’s uncle Lucas Hollingsworth, he and Dorothy pretend to fall in love in order to horrify Blanche — only to fall in love for real and tie the knot.
Dick Van Dyke
Veteran actor Dick Van Dyke fondly remembers playing Dorothy’s (Arthur) boyfriend for the 1989 episode “Love Under the Big Top” — and he should, considering the role landed him his first Emmy nomination in 13 years. “I had fun,” he previously said of portraying a top-notch attorney whose real ambition was to be a clown.
Alex Trebek
Answer: This iconic game show host appeared in a 1992 episode. Question: Who is Alex Trebek? The late star made his cameo in one of the funniest dream sequences of all time: Dorothy’s nightmare about losing to Rose on Jeopardy!
Rita Moreno
In 1987, Rita Moreno guest starred as Renee Corliss on the “Empty Nests” episode as one of the girls’ neighbors whose children had just moved out. The episode was supposed to be a backdoor pilot for the show Empty Nest, but it wasn’t picked up. However, it was later recast and the comedy aired for seven seasons.
Cesar Romero
The original Joker (he played the role on the Batman TV series in the ’60s), Cesar Romero made his appearance in 1990 on the episode “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…Before They Die,” playing a love interest for Sophia. In real life, Getty was 16 years his junior.
Quentin Tarantino
“It was kind of a high point because it was one of the few times that I actually got hired for a job,” Quentin Tarantino said of playing one of 10 Elvis Presley impersonators in the 1988 episode “Sophia’s Wedding: Part 1.” Of his first-ever paid gig, he dished, “Bea Arthur is fine after she’s had her morning coffee.”
Burt Reynolds
Burt Reynolds‘ cameo on 1986’s “Ladies of the Evening” led to one of the show’s most memorable moments. After Dorothy, Blanche (McClanahan) and Rose are mistaken for prostitutes and miss out on the chance to meet Reynolds, he strikes up a friendship with Sophia. Upon arriving at the house to pick her up, he asks, “Which one’s the slut?” All the girls reply, “I am!”
Jerry Orbach
The 1990 episode “Cheaters” saw Dorothy reunite with her former married lover Glen O’Brien, played by the beloved Dirty Dancing star Jerry Orbach. Jerry took over this role from actor Alex Rocco, who had the part in a 1985 episode. (Coincidentally, Rocco and Orbach starred together on a 1985 episode of Murder, She Wrote.)
George Clooney
Before he was an A-list movie star, George Clooney’s agent asked if his client could have a guest role on The Golden Girls “so he can maintain his medical insurance.” The result? 1987’s “To Catch a Neighbor,” which featured 26-year-old Clooney as a young cop staking out the girls’ jewel-thief neighbors.
Debbie Reynolds
In 1991’s “There Goes the Bride: Part II,” the girls interview Debbie Reynolds’ Blanche-esque character, Truby, to replace Dorothy, who decides to remarry her ex-husband, Stan (Herb Edelman), and move. In the end, Dorothy changes her mind, and Truby is out of luck.
Mickey Rooney
National Velvet legend Mickey Rooney played wannabe gangster Rocco, a love interest for Sophia — and a bit of a foil for Dorothy — in 1988’s “Larceny and Old Lace.”
Mario Lopez
Before he was A.C. Slater on Saved by the Bell, Mario Lopez played a student with immigration problems in the 1987 episode “Dorothy’s Prized Pupil.” Lopez recalled Arthur being “so gracious with her time” while on set, telling reporters, “She took me out to lunch that whole week and helped me with my lines.”
Hallie Todd
Before Disney Channel fans knew her as Lizzie McGuire’s mom, Jo, Hallie Todd appeared on the 1986 episode “Nice and Easy.” She played Blanche’s niece, Lucy Warren, who like her aunt is a bit promiscuous, going on several dates during her brief visit to Miami.
Jeffrey Tambor
“It was a very odd experience,” Jeffrey Tambor said of his guest-star appearance as a doctor in a 1989 episode. The Transparent star confessed he felt “iced” out by Arthur during the table read. While some show staffers deny there was tension, Tambor insisted, “It happened!”
