- Rue McClanahan, The Golden Girls, TV, 1985-1992. Betty was booked for the sexpot Blanche but switched with Rue as they had no wish to be typecast. Betty had been the aggressive Sue Ann Nivens on Mary Tyler Moore, 1970 and Rue was the timid Vivian on Maude, 1972. Betty played Rose Nylund on three other shows: Empty Nest, 1988; Nurses, 1991; The Golden Palace, 1992.
- Shirley Knight, As Good As It Gets, 1997. An obvious refusal as Betty is such a battler for animal rights she hated the script’s mistreatment of Verdell the dog. Or dogs. Verdell was enacted by no less than six Brussels Griffons: Billy, Debbie, Parfait, Sprout, Timer and the real superstar turn, Jill.
- Estelle Harris, Toy Story 2, 1998. This time Don Rickles’ Mr Potato Head had a wife. But with whose voice? Burnett, Cloris Leachman, Doris Robert, Betty White, Marcia Wallace (aka Mrs Krabappel in The Simpsons,1990-2014). Just as Roberts was famous for being Ray Romano’s mother in Everybody Loves Raymond, 1996-2005, the winner was best known as Jason Alexander’s mother in Seinfeld, 1992-1998.
- Fionnula Flanagan,Four Brothers, 2004. Up for Evelyn Mercer, adoptive mother of the four sons – two white, two black – avenging her murder. Except no one wanted to see Golden Girl Rose Nylund gunned down. Not at 82…
Birth year: 1922Death year: 2021Other name: Casting Calls: 4