Many actors and actresses take on roles that transform who they are. Off-screen and on-screen personas can vary, looks can differ, and playing a part can mean being the opposite of who you are in real life. 

That was the case for The Golden Girls’ Estelle Getty, who was about 20 years younger in real life than her character, the oldest of the friends on-screen. She was in her 60s, while her character was around 80, a major transformation for her.

While other series had done something similar—such as Vicki Lawrence being in her 30s and playing a 60-year-old on Mama’s Family—Getty’s role was her first time aging up so dramatically.

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According to a 1986 interview with The Pittsburgh Press, Getty hardly resembled her character, Sophia, off-screen, both in personality and in looks. Sophia resembled an urban version of Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies. The character was sassy, hilarious and blurted out just about anything.

When she received the pilot script for The Golden Girls, Getty said, "I thought that I was auditioning for one of the other women. And I liked that. Then my manager said to me, 'I don’t think it’s one of the three women. I think it’s the older mother.' I wasn’t too sure about that, but I went for it. I did exactly what you see on the show. And I got it."

Character roles were nothing new for Getty, who spent a decade on and off Broadway. She didn’t decide to continue being a character actress—casting directors did. 

"They never gave me the love interest roles," Getty said. "They always said, 'You be the maid. You be the neighbor next door. You be the cat lady. You be the lady who makes bird noises.'"

It should come as no surprise that a woman who could come up with one-liners easily also spent time as a stand-up comedian. Sophia’s quick wit had to come from somewhere. However, between Broadway and stand-up, nothing stood out to her as much as TV.

According to the interview, she hadn’t appreciated TV’s impact until she realized that more people had seen her in The Golden Girls first episode than had seen her in all of her 50 years of theater work.

Despite playing an older woman, it was worth it for the kind words and fame she received from the role. She and her on-screen friends also became real-life friends.

Without Getty, we wouldn’t have the Sophia we did, and without Sophia, The Golden Girls dynamic might have been very different.

"If this had happened to me when I was 40, I would have thought, 'My God, for the next 20 years, I’m going to have to be playing this old lady.'" Getty said. "If this show is the success it appears to be, by the time it ends, it’s okay. I don't have that much longer to go."