Born Estelle Scher in 1923, Estelle Getty got her start as an actress in the Yiddish theater. After a successful stage career, she came to fame as Sophia, the slightly addled old lady on The Golden Girls. (Of all the "wisecracking grandma" characters on TV, she was probably the funniest -- despite the fact that she was virtually the same age as Bea Arthur, who played her daughter.)
In her autobiography, Getty wrote, "I've played mothers to heroes and mothers to zeroes. I've played Irish mothers, Jewish mothers, Italian mothers, Southern mothers, mothers in plays by Neil Simon and Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. I've played mother to everyone but Attila the Hun."
She had been battling a form of dementia for several years. In a 2006 statement to fans, her caregiver said, "Estelle would like them all to know that if she has made you laugh, encouraged you to think, and challenged your beliefs, then she has done her job."
Photo by Alan Light, from the1989 Emmy Awards