Rue McClanahan

Betty White, Rue McClanahan Recall 'Shy' Bea Arthur

Originally posted 04/27/2009 08:55AM

Despite her booming voice and boisterous personality – "Let's face it," the 5'9" leading lady once quipped, "nobody ever asked me to play Juliet" – Beatrice Arthur was very private, sensitive, even shy, her two surviving Golden Girls costars, Betty White and Rue McClanahan, affectionately recalled Monday morning.

Speaking over the phone on the Today show about their late friend and professional colleague – Arthur, 86, died early Saturday morning at her home in Los Angeles after a lengthy battle with cancer – both expressed their amazement when Arthur headlined her own, autobiographical one-woman show, 2002's Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends.

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