Who's Your Favorite Dirty Old Lady on Film?
By now you've probably heard -- Maude-Golden Girl Bea Arthur passed away over the weekend at the age of 86. In honor of the great actress and comedian, EW called up old co-star Rue McClanahan for her thoughts. During the discussion, she said: "And she [Arthur] told some pretty raunchy jokes, live on stage. In fact, a couple that were just a bit too much for me! [Laughs.] But boy she could tell a dirty joke. Oh my God, she was funny!"This is what makes her passing right now all the more unfortunate -- one of the greats has left us just as the dirtiness of the silver set, particularly the Golden Girls themselves, dips into a Renaissance already mourning the loss of Estelle Getty. Lenora Claire recently brought us the wonder of Golden Gals Gone Wild. Meanwhile, Betty White jumped from her woman-without-morals role on Boston Legal to the dirty ol' Grandma Annie in the upcoming Sandra Bullock romcom The Proposal. One view of the trailer and it is obvious that White is easily the one reason the film might be worth a view or two.
These are the women who tought us the ever-important lesson that age isn't all bridge clubs and shopping sprees to spoil the grandkids. Nor is it something that eradicates every lascivious whim of youth, perversions and obscenities melting away for sugary, batty niceness (even if Ellen Albertini Dow made a wonderful career out of it).
So I thought we could take a moment on this Monday to give some love to the old ladies who defy expectations, whether they're spinning a dirty joke with the best of 'em, or delivering shocker line for comedic effect (like Jessamine Milner in Blazing Saddles). Which surprising old women stick in your memory banks? The killers of Arsenic and Old Lace? The saucy dentured neighbor in Yes Man? That other famous Maude, the one who loved Harold? Or maybe Nedra Volz from Moving Violations? Weigh in below!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-27-2009 @ 10:37AM
MrW said...
Estelle Winwood as Hold Me Touch Me in Mel Brooks' 'The Producers'.
Hands down.
(Of course I also love Ruth Gordon's Maude, but I don't really consider her just a Dirty Old Lady.)
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4-27-2009 @ 11:37AM
SOS said...
Mae West could get pretty raunchy: in a radio-show on December 12, 1937 while talking with Edgar Bergen’s puppet Charlie McCarthy, May said, “Charles, I remember our date and have the splinters to prove it.” The line above, which was given to Mae, resulted in a fifteen-year broadcasting ban for her.
Some years later, Mae went on in film singing the famous “Willie of the Valley” (where everybody knew what Willie and what Valley, except the censors) for the film _My Little Chickadee_.
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4-27-2009 @ 12:37PM
Demarman said...
Ruth Gordon, playing the unforgettable Ma Boggs in the movies "Every Which Way But Loose" (1978) and "Any Which Way You Can" (1980).
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4-27-2009 @ 12:54PM
John said...
How you could miss Cloris Leachman as Gam Gam in "Beerfest" for a dirty old lady on screen is beyond me. Seeing her do unspeakable things with a German bratwurst sausage was both hilarious and horrible.
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4-27-2009 @ 10:41PM
Rivndellelf said...
How about Betty White in real life? She's hilariously dirty. Then again, Cloris Leachman is pretty dirty off screen, too...
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5-07-2009 @ 7:41PM
Josh D said...
Here's a quick list of some awesome old ladies that I like:
-Betty White....in Lake Placid she droped the word "f*ck" and I FLIPPED
-Cloris Leachman....her reputation speaks for itself
-Ellen Albertini Dow....she is hilariously bad in "Wedding Crashers"
-Eileen Essell....she played Estelle Winwood's part in the remake of "The Producers"
-Liz Smith....was talking about how hot Johnny Depp was in a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" interview
- Shirley Jones....she played a naughty broad who "knows" a lotta fellas in "Grandma's Boy"
-Jane Fonda....in "Monster-In Law" she had a smack-down with Jennifer Lopez!
-Eileen Brennan...shes awesomely dirty.
and finally, the original Queen of comedy herself, Phyllis Diller :)
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