Didn't see a diary on this yet, but noted actress Bea Arthur, famous for her roles as Dorothy on the Golden Girls and Maude on All in the Family and its spinoff Maude has died:
LOS ANGELES – Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows "Maude" and "The Golden Girls" and who won a Tony Award for the musical "Mame," died Saturday. She was 86.
Arthur died peacefully at her Los Angeles home with her family at her side, family spokesman Dan Watt said. She had cancer, Watt said, declining to give further details.
I don't have a lot of time to do a full write up now, but I think she was an important figure in the progressive movement, especially for women's rights, gay rights and seniors' rights, in her two signature roles. She played an irascible liberal foil to Archie Bunker in several episodes of All in the Family before her character Maude was spun off into its own series. She won an Emmy for the role of Maude in 1977. Starting in 1985 she took up the role of Dorothy Zbornak in the hit comedy series the Golden Girls. The series was known to push social issues of the day including issues of seniors, women, gays and homophobia and always came down on the progressive side of the issues.
Bea Arthur and her humor will be sorely missed. And as dlh77489 says below "Thank you for being a friend".