R.I.P., Estelle Getty. "Golden Girls" is perhaps my favorite show on TV. Its humor still holds up to this day -- the cast, the writing, everything is just genius. Very sad to lose Sophia! Rue McClanahan, who played Blanche on the show, had this to say:

"Estelle always wanted to be an actress, and she achieved that goal beyond her dreams," former "Golden Girls" co-star Rue McClanahan said. "Don't feel sad about her passing. She will always be with us in her crowning achievement, Sophia."

I didn't know this, but apparently at the time of her casting in the show, Getty was playing Harvey Fierstein's mother in "Torch Song Trilogy" -- a part played by Anne Bancroft in the film adaptation. But I did know that she had trouble getting cast because she looked much younger (and was much younger in real life) than her part:

When she auditioned, Getty was appearing on stage in Hollywood as the carping Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein's play "Torch Song Trilogy." In her early 60s, she flunked her "Golden Girls" test twice because it was believed that she didn't look old enough to play 80.

"I could understand that," she said a year after the show debuted. "I walk fast; I move fast; I talk fast."

She came prepared for the third audition, however, wearing dowdy clothes and telling an NBC makeup artist, "To you, this is just a job. To me, it's my entire career down the toilet unless you make me look 80." The artist did, and Getty got the job and won two Emmys.

We'll miss you, Estelle! Here are some favorite "Sophia" moments compiled by a fan from Season One: