But self-soothing through Golden Girls repeats - even just as background noise (which actually proves tough because all I want to do is finish the character’s sentences) - made her death remarkably easier to digest. Almost a year later, I would get her face tattooed on my arm above a laurel wreath and the words “Thank you for being a friend.” Dorothy Zbornak lives forever on my left bicep.Ī world without Bea Arthur suddenly felt bleak. I’d sensed it before it was even confirmed, but the news was official: Bea Arthur had passed away.
On April 25, 2009, my phone began to blow up with texts:
