Vale: Estelle Getty

Actress Estelle Getty, best known as the wise-cracking Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls, died on Tuesday morning at her Los Angeles home. She was 84.

Her longtime caregiver Paul Chapdelaine wrote on her Web site: “Sadly, today July 22, 2008 at 5:35 a.m. Pacific Time, we said our last good-byes to our little friend Estelle, who passed away and made her journey to the great beyond. Although it was a trip that she never wanted to take, she went gracefully, in the comfort of her own home, surrounded by her family and her very loving care-givers.

Getty had been suffering from poor health over the years. The latest reports claim she was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, a progressive brain disease.

In 2005, her Golden Girls co-star Rue McClanahan told Entertainment Tonight when she called her on the phone, “the only thing she was able to say back to me was, ‘Yes.'”

Born in New York City, Getty launched her career in the Yiddish theater. She earned acclaim for her role as playing Harvey Fierstein’s mother in Broadway’s Torch Song Trilogy.

She was best known, however, as the quick-wittted Sophia on The Golden Girls. She won an Emmy in 1988 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

She was to turn 85 on Friday.

Source: US Magazine