Over the course of 180 half-hour episodes across seven seasons, many people have come through the Miami, Florida home of the characters played by Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan, and Estelle Getty in “The Golden Girls.” In many episodes, it was Dorothy Zbornak’s ex-husband Stan with a get-rich-quick scheme. We also saw visiting relatives from Sicily for Sophia Petrillo or from St. Olaf for Rose Nylund. Of course, fans probably lost count of how many suitors came to the door for Blanche Devereaux.
Sometimes, the girls got a very special visitor whenever a celebrity dropped in on the show; it was fun to catch these guests mix it up with our favorite cheesecake-loving ladies. In case you missed some, we’re going to look back on five celebrity guests you might have forgotten on “The Golden Girls.” Though icons like Sonny Bono, “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek, and Burt Reynolds appeared in episodes for a quick cameo, we’re focusing on guest stars who had a more substantial role in their episodes.
Dick Van Dyke as Ken Whittingham
During the 1960s, the incomparable Dick Van Dyke dominated the television airwaves with “The Dick Van Dyke Show” alongside creator Carl Reiner and Mary Tyler Moore. By the time the 1980s rolled around, he had become even more beloved thanks to his roles in “Mary Poppins,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” and a variety of other roles in film, television, and theater. And thanks to “The Golden Girls” in 1989, he was able to add another memorable role to his resume.
Van Dyke appeared in the Season 5 episode “Love Under the Big Top” as Ken Whittingham, a lawyer that Dorothy has been dating who dresses up as a clown for sick kids at the hospital in his downtime. The duo have apparently been dating pretty seriously because when Ken teases that he has something important to talk about with Dorothy, everyone thinks he’s preparing to propose. Instead, he reveals that he wants to quit practicing law to become a circus clown full-time.
While Dorothy tries to accept Ken’s new passion, she feels embarrassed to be dating a literal clown (rather than a figurative one like her ex-husband Stan). After he shows up in a courtroom for the last time to help keep Blanche and Rose out of jail, Ken and Dorothy mutually decide to end the relationship since, if it were true love, then she wouldn’t care what he did for a job. Before parting ways, Ken gives Dorothy a handkerchief to dry her tears, but it’s connected to an endless string of them that emerge from his pocket.
Mario Lopez as Mario Sanchez
Modern audiences may think of him more as a presenter and a host on shows like “Access Hollywood,” “Extra,” and “Entertainment Tonight,” but Mario Lopez spent the 1990s as a heartthrob on “Pacific Blue” and several series in the “Saved By The Bell” franchise as A.C. Slater, the popular jock who often competed with his dear friend Zack Morris over being the top guy at Bayside High. However, when the young actor and dancer was first breaking into Hollywood, one of his first roles was on “The Golden Girls.”
Lopez played Mario Sanchez, a student of Dorothy’s who is receiving private tutoring after school in Season 2, Episode 21, “Dorothy’s Prized Pupil.” While he has some areas to work on, Mario is a good student, especially when it comes to English. Dorothy is particularly impressed by an essay he wrote that described his initial feelings about the United States: “In America, you always feel like you’re among friends.”
She feels like it’s so good that she enters it in a contest run by the school district. Mario’s essay wins and his picture appears in the local paper. However, it also gets the attention of the Department of Immigration and Naturalization Services, who believe that the student is in Miami illegally. No matter how much Dorothy and Mario try to fight it, he ends up being deported back to his homeland. While the episode merely skims the surface of immigration and its struggles, Lopez embodied the difficult role and heavy subject well for being such a young actor.
George Clooney as Bobby Hopkins
George Clooney is one of the biggest stars to ever come out of Hollywood. Whether people know him as Ulysses Everett McGill, Danny Ocean, Batman, the fantastic Mr. Fox, Jay Kelly, or any number of his other roles, there’s a good chance you’ve seen a Clooney movie. Still, people often forget that he started in television. His breakthrough role was Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama “ER.” Before that, he was Detective Ryan Walker on “Bodies of Evidence” for CBS and he had a semi-regular gig on “Roseanne” as the titular character’s supervisor Booker Brooks. However, much earlier in his career, right around the end of his run on “The Facts of Life” as handyman George Burnett in 1987, he appeared in the second season of “The Golden Girls.”
In the episode titled “To Catch a Neighbor,” Clooney played young undercover detective Bobby Hopkins. Along with his partner Al Mullins (Joseph Campanella), the cops set up shop in the ladies’ Miami home to monitor their new neighbors, who are suspects in a series of jewelry thefts. While Blanche is best known for trying to seduce any young man that enters her home, she takes more of a maternal interest in Bobby as he reminds her of her son Matthew. Her worrying is warranted — Hopkins gets caught in a firefight as he and his partner try to apprehend the criminals. Luckily, the bullet only grazed him, allowing him to move on to his next case and potentially a home-cooked meal at the Devereaux house some time in the future.
Debbie Reynolds as Truby Steele
Bea Arthur decided she wanted to leave “The Golden Girls” after seven seasons. This led to the other three stars moving on to the short-lived spin-off “The Golden Palace” while she pursued other endeavors. But in another timeline, the original show might have continued with Debbie Reynolds, as seen in the Season 6 two-part episode “There Goes the Bride.”
Reynolds, known for her starring roles in “Singin’ in the Rain,” “How the West Was Won,” and “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” nearly reached seven decades in the entertainment industry before she died in 2016. While a large portion of her work lives on the silver screen, she also had a fairly prominent imprint on television as well. In addition to the recurring role in Disney Channel’s “Halloweentown” movies as Aggie Cromwell, Reynolds also starred on “Will & Grace” as Grace Adler’s mother Bobbi, “Wings” as Helen Chappel’s mother Deedee, and Nickelodeon’s “Rugrats” as Grandma Lulu Pickles.
On “The Golden Girls,” Reynolds played Truby, a potential new roommate in the house when Dorothy decides to remarry her ex-husband Stan. Blanche is immediately enamored with Truby as they have very similar qualities. Both are charming, particular about their looks, and prone to dating many men. However, Truby often marries her suitors and reenters the dating pool after their funerals. Her sweet and genuine disposition wins over the household and she moves into Dorothy’s old room. When things fall apart with the Zbornaks yet again, Truby relinquishes the room to its former tenant and makes plans to find other accommodations.
Leslie Nielsen as Lucas Hollingsworth
When it finally came time for Bea Arthur to leave the beloved sitcom, the creators called in a big gun so they could go out with a bang. After appearing on shows such as “M*A*S*H” and cop spoof “Police Squad!,” then really making his name with iconic films “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun,” Leslie Nielsen brought his signature brand of comedy back to the small screen for the series finale of “The Golden Girls.”
In the two-part episode titled “One Flew Out of the Cuckoo’s Nest,” we learn that Blanche’s Uncle Lucas is coming to town for a visit. But when she gets a date at the last minute, she convinces Dorothy to pick him up and spend time with him by disguising the situation as a blind date. Once Dorothy and Lucas discover the ruse, they want to get back at Blanche by saying that they did fall in love and want to get married. However, as they continue with their trick, the pair actually do fall in love and plan to marry. With Dorothy heading off to Atlanta with Lucas after the wedding, it’s an end of an era for the girls. The show’s final moments are filled with bittersweet goodbyes as Dorothy gets a happy ending and Rose, Blanche, and Sophia embrace each other as the credits roll.
As memorable an actor as Nielsen is, fans may have forgotten that he played such a big part in that final episode. After all, viewers were likely more focused on “The Golden Girls” ending. But all these years later, especially now that the show is streaming or airing on a number of networks in syndication, it’s easier to appreciate his contribution to the acclaimed series.
