Countless celebrities dropped by The Golden Girls during the beloved NBC sitcom’s seven-season run from 1985 to 1992. Take a look back with Us at the stars who had guest spots alongside Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty’s iconic characters!
Bob Hope
Rose confesses that she’s sure the legendary comic is her father in the 1989 episode “You Gotta Have Hope.” Bob’s appearance fee? Ten Ronald Reagan jokes, written by the show’s scribes, that he could use that year at his Bob Hope Desert Classic golf tournament.
Dick Van Dyke
The veteran actor fondly remembers playing Dorothy’s boyfriend for the 1989 episode “Love Under the Big Top” — and he should, considering the role landed him his first Emmy nomination in 13 years. “I had fun,” he says of portraying a top-notch attorney whose real ambition was to be a clown.
Alex Trebek
Answer: This iconic game show host appeared in a 1992 episode. Question: Who is Alex Trebek? He appeared in one of the funniest dream sequences of all time: Dorothy’s nightmare about losing to Rose on Jeopardy!
Cesar Romero
The original Joker (he played the role on the Batman TV series in the ’60s), Cesar made his appearance in 1990 on the episode “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…Before They Die,” playing a love interest for Sophia. In real life, Estelle Getty was 16 years his junior.
Quentin Tarantino
“It was kind of a high point because it was one of the few times that I actually got hired for a job,” the powerhouse director (rear center) says of playing one of 10 Elvis impersonators in the 1988 episode “Sophia’s Wedding: Part 1.” Of his first-ever paid gig, he dished: “Bea Arthur is fine after she’s had her morning coffee.”
Burt Reynolds
The actor’s cameo on 1986’s “Ladies of the Evening” led to one of the show’s most memorable moments. After Dorothy, Blanche and Rose are mistaken for prostitutes and miss out on the chance to meet Burt, he strikes up a friendship with Sophia. Upon arriving at the house to pick her up, he asks, “Which one’s the slut?” All the girls reply, “I am!”
Leslie Nielsen
The Airplane! actor helped bring the series to a close with the two-part finale “One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1992. As Blanche’s uncle Lucas Hollingsworth, he and Dorothy pretend to fall in love in order to horrify Blanche — only to fall in love for real and tie the knot.
Jerry Orbach
The 1990 episode “Cheaters” saw Dorothy reunite with her former married lover Glen O’Brien, played by the beloved Dirty Dancing star. Jerry took over this role from actor Alex Rocco, who had the part in a 1985 episode. (Coincidentally, Alex and Jerry starred together on an ’85 episode of Murder, She Wrote.)
George Clooney
Before he was an A-list movie star, George’s agent asked if his client could have a guest role “so he can maintain his medical insurance.” The result? 1987’s “To Catch a Neighbor,” which featured 26-year-old George as a young cop staking out the Girls’ jewel-thief neighbors. He even got shot! Not bad for a one-episode gig.
Mickey Rooney
The National Velvet legend played wannabe gangster Rocco, a love interest for Sophia — and a bit of a foil for Dorothy — in 1988’s “Larceny and Old Lace.”
Mario Lopez
Before he was A.C. Slater on Saved by the Bell, Mario played a student with immigration problems in “Dorothy’s Prized Pupil,” a 1987 episode. “She was so gracious with her time,” Mario says of Bea. “She took me out to lunch that whole week and helped me with my lines.”
Debbie Reynolds
In 1991’s “There Goes the Bride: Part II,” the Girls interview Debbie’s Blanche-esque character, Truby, to replace Dorothy, who decides to remarry Stan and move. In the end, Dorothy changed her mind, and Truby was out of luck.
Jeffrey Tambor
“It was a very odd experience,” Jeffrey says of his guest-star appearance as a doctor in a 1989 episode. The Transparent star has confessed he felt “iced” out by Bea during the table read. While some show staffers deny there was tension, Jeffrey insists, “It happened!”
