Surprising Stories from the Set of The Golden Girls

Sophia Petrillo may have been the oldest member of the household, but the actress playing her wasn’t actually the oldest of the four. To help transform Estelle Getty into the sharp-tongued Sicilian mother, the makeup team had to put in a lot of work before filming even began.

Each day, it took about 45 minutes in the makeup chair to complete the transformation. The process included aging makeup and careful styling to give Getty Sophia’s distinctive look, helping her convincingly portray a character decades older than herself.