ARTHUR-BEA

Bea Arthur was an American actress, comedian and signer whose career spanned seven decades.  She was born as Bernice Frankel on May 13, 1922, in New York City.  During 1933, when she was 11, the Frankel family relocated to Cambridge, Maryland, where her parents subsequently operated a women’s clothing store.  Bernice attended Linden Hall School for Girls, an all-girls boarding school in Lititz, Pennsylvania, before enrolling at Blackstone College for Girls in Blackstone, Virginia, where she was active in the school’s drama program.  In March 1943 she enlisted in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, being one of the first women to do so.  On active duty she was assigned as a typist at Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. and then saw duty as a laboratory technician and truck driver at Navy and Marine Corps facilities in Virginia and North Carolina.  She was discharged in September 1945 having attained the rank of Staff Sergeant.

Following her Marine Corps discharge and a brief unsuccessful marriage, Bernice joined the New York’s Dramatic Workshop for the New School for Social Research where she played classical and dramatic roles.  She also became a lounge singer but because the audience would laugh at her because of her deep voice and height, a manager suggested to her that she was in the wrong business and said she should instead be doing comedy.  Her breakthrough came on stage in 1950 while appearing in the musical play “The Threepenny Opera.”  Then, in 1954 she was a regular on Sid Caesar’s television show.  In 1964 she became truly famous in the original Broadway production of “Fiddler on the Roof.”  Although she played a small supporting role, she stole the show night after night.

Bea Arthur retired from acting in 2005 after a long and very successful career on stage, movies and television during which she received numerous nominations and awards.  In 1966 she won the American Theatre Wing’s Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical.  She received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series a total of nine times.  She twice received the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.  She was inducted into the Academy’s Television Hall of Fame in 2008.

Bea Arthur died at her home in Los Angeles on April 25, 2009, due to cancer.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)