Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 â April 25, 2009) was an American actress and comedian.
Arthur began her career on stage in 1947. She won the 1966 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Vera Charles in Mame. She went on to play Maude Findlay on the sitcoms All in the Family (appearing 1971â72) and Maude (1972â78), as well as Dorothy Zbornak on the sitcom The Golden Girls (1985â92). She won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1977 for Maude and 1988 for The Golden Girls. Her film appearances include Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) and Mame (1974). In 2002, she starred in the one-woman show Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends. An obituary described Arthur as “the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star.
During World War II, Frankel enlisted as one of the first members of the United States Marine Corps Women’s Reserve in 1943. After basic training, she served as a typist at Marine headquarters in Washington, D.C. In June 1943, the Marine Corps accepted her transfer request to the Motor Transport School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Frankel then worked as a truck driver and dispatcher in Cherry Point, North Carolina, between 1944 and 1945. She was honorably discharged at the rank of staff sergeant in September 1945.
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