Estelle Getty: A humble star, a timeless legend. 🌹

Despite her immense success on The Golden Girls, Estelle Getty remained grounded and frugal, her son Carl Gettleman shared during a private memorial service on Thursday. He recounted a humorous anecdote about his Emmy-winning mother’s unassuming Toyota Tercel, which was once towed from her assigned parking spot at The Golden Girls production lot because security assumed it didn’t belong to someone on the cast.

“The Great Depression left an indelible impression on mom,” Gettleman said, reflecting on how her modest upbringing shaped her life.

Getty, who passed away at her Hollywood Boulevard home on Tuesday at the age of 84 after battling advanced dementia, was best known for her iconic role as the sharp-tongued Sophia Petrillo on The Golden Girls. The beloved sitcom aired from 1985 to 1992 on NBC. At the time of her audition for the show, Getty was starring as the meddling Jewish mother in Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy in Hollywood.

Her success on The Golden Girls opened doors to a variety of roles. Getty portrayed Cher’s mother in Mask, Sylvester Stallone’s in Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot, and Barry Manilow’s in the TV movie Copacabana. She also appeared as a spirited department store owner in Mannequin and voiced Grandma Estelle in the animated film Stuart Little.

“While many celebrity biographies are filled with tales of extravagant lifestyles, tumultuous relationships, and personal battles, what made mom so universally relatable was how her life resonated with everyday people,” Gettleman said. “You can see it in our family photographs.”

Additional speakers at the service included Getty’s other son, Barry, her longtime assistant, Richard, and Golden Girls executive producer Tony Thomas. However, her Golden Girls co-stars Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, and Betty White did not attend the intimate service held at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

“We loved her dearly,” Thomas remarked. “She could take a so-so joke and make it good, a good joke and make it great, and a great joke and take it out of this world.”