R.I.P Bea Arthur

Beatrice Arthur, the award winning actress best known for her roles as television's Maude and the sardonic Dorothy on The Golden Girls, has died of cancer.

Arthur died on the morning of April 25 at her home in Los Angeles with her family by her side.

In 1978 Arthur began playing Maude Findlay, an outspoken liberal living in the affluent community of Tuckahoe, New York. The revolutionary show, which won Arthur an Emmy, was a spin-off from All in the Family, on which Arthur had appeared a couple of times in the same role, playing Edith Bunker's cousin, a feminist, and antithesis to the bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker.

In 1978 She then went on to play Dorothy Zbornak in the hit sitcom The Golden Girls, co starring Estelle Getty, Betty White and Rue McClanahan as four older women sharing a home in Miami Florida

She is survived by her sons Matthew and Daniel and grandchildren Kyra and Violet, he said.

She was 86.

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