'Golden Girls' Beatrice Arthur, dead at 86

Beatrice Arthur, one of the stars in the 1980s TV series "The Golden Girls," died in Los Angeles from cancer, her spokesman told local media. She was 86.

Arthur died at her home Saturday morning after suffering from cancer, Dan Watt told "The Envelope" entertainment magazine. He did not specify what type of cancer the actress had.

Arthur, widely acclaimed for her role in the 1964 Broadway production of the musical "Fiddler on the Roof," went on to television plaudits in "Maude," a television series in the 1970s, and NBC's "The Golden Girls," 1985-1992.

The show about three retired friends was popular in the United States and was sold to several countries. In the show Arthur played Dorothy Zbornak, a sharp-tongued woman who shared a Florida apartment with her mother.

Born in New York but raised in Maryland, Arthur was married twice and is survived by her two adult children.