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Dorothy Zbornak

Dorothy Zbornak Hollingsworth (nee Petrillo), portrayed by Beatrice Arthur, is a fictional character from the TV series The Golden Girls. Dorothy was the strong, sarcastic, sometimes intimidating, and arguably, most grounded of the four women in the house. In the 1000th issue of Entertainment Weekly, Dorothy Zbornak was selected as the Grandma for "The Perfect TV Family.

Family

Dorothy was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929 (which is stated in season 7), to Italian immigrants Sophia and Salvador Petrillo. She has two younger siblings: brother Phil, a cross-dresser, who died later in the show's run; and a sister, Gloria, who married into money, and with whom Dorothy was sometimes estranged. In the fourth season episode Foreign Exchange, Dorothy wondered whether she is the biological daughter of the Petrillos, since Dominic and Philomena Bosco claimed that the hospital switched babies. However, in the third season episode "Mother's Day," Sophia Petrillo's mother is also played by Bea Arthur, so it's inferred that Dorothy and Sophia are biologically related.

She was a "bookworm", and an over-achiever in high school (according to the episode Even Grandmas Get the Blues, Sophia reveals that Dorothy's IQ is 173, which would rank her as possessing a genius level intellect).Yet, she suffered from low self-esteem because one previous boyfriend was emotionally abusive, while another one supposedly stood her up on the night of her prom. In reality, he did show up, but was disrespectful toward Sophia, who did not like the way he was dressed or his attitude, and turned him away, without telling Dorothy. Dejected, she later accepted a date with Stanley Zbornak (Herb Edelman) because she "felt she couldn't do any better". She became pregnant while still in high school, resulting in a shotgun wedding to Stan. The marriage produced two children: Kate and Michael, who both appeared on the show. However, both children were presented as being in their 20s during their appearances on the show, making them too young to have been the cause of the shotgun wedding. At some point during their marriage, 1946-84 Stan and Dorothy moved to Miami, but divorced after 38 years due to Stan's infidelity. In the first season episode "The Return of Dorothy's Ex," Stan mentions how they bought property together when honeymooned in Miami.

Career

Dorothy worked as a high school substitute teacher of American History (also her college major) and English. She also taught a night-school course for adults wishing to complete their high school equivalency. Dorothy also had summer and part-time jobs, which included tutoring and working alongside Blanche at the museum (causing jealousy after Dorothy appeared to have become the boss's favorite).

Characteristics

While often mocked as a manly and sexually unattractive woman by her two roommate friends due to her great height and deep voice, Dorothy is also in possession of many talents. In one episode, she is able to upstage Blanche at the latter's favorite bar, the Rusty Anchor, by singing and thus winning the admiration of Blanche's many suitors. At another point, remembering how funny she could be in high school, Dorothy tries her hand at doing stand-up comedy, in the end winning over her audience by poking fun at her own life and bringing such subjects up as menopause with its hot flashes.

Dorothy can be extremely sarcastic, especially towards her less-sharper roomate, Rose. Her mother Sophia has a tendancy to borrow money from her, with or without Dorothy's permission. Despite the ridicule, Dorothy regards her roomates to be family. She is very comforting to them, often giving good advice.

Major events

After her divorce, Dorothy moved into a home in Miami, Florida, with Blanche Devereaux and Rose Nylund. Shortly thereafter, her mother, Sophia Petrillo, moved in after her nursing home, Shady Pines, burned down. Dorothy shared a unique relationship with her roommates, one often laced with her famously sardonic comments; the four shared a home for seven years, and in more than one episode it was pointed out that, despite a lack of blood relation, they were as much a family as any other household.

During the course of the show, Dorothy saw both of her children get married: Kate, to a podiatrist named Dennis, and Michael to a woman named Lorraine, a singer in his band, whom he had gotten pregnant. Lorraine was African-American, and almost twice Michael's age, which initially did not sit well with Dorothy because she felt Lorraine was far too old for Michael (ironically, Lorraine's family didn't want her to marry Michael because he was white). Kate's husband, Dennis, cheated on her at one point, but she ultimately forgave him, almost causing Dorothy and Kate to stop speaking, but they also quickly reconciled. Lorraine left Michael later in the series, and there was no specific mention of his child with Lorraine (Dorothy's grandchild) thereafter. Dorothy did have grandchildren, but it was never specified whether they were Michael's or Kate's children.

Like the other women living in the house, the series saw Dorothy progress through her fair share of romances, with her love life often coming into criticism by her mother. Ex-husband Stanley made regular attempts throughout the series to "win her back", and nearly re-married Dorothy, though in the end she called it off after Stanley and his lawyer presented her with a pre-nuptial agreement to sign.

Some of Dorothy's suitors turned out to have less-than-virtuous characters. Elliot Clayton, a respected doctor, made a pass at Blanche, and when Blanche told Dorothy about it, Dorothy accused Blanche of making it all up, and wanting Elliot for herself. Blanche, deeply hurt that Dorothy would believe Elliot's word over hers, announced she was kicking Dorothy out of the house, and this would have ended their friendship for good had Rose not exposed Elliot for the liar he was on the day Dorothy was set to move out. Another suitor turned out to be a married man, which led Dorothy to break off the relationship because she remembered how much it hurt to be cheated on by her then-husband. She dated him again a few years later when he was divorced, but she broke off with him again because she felt that the only reason he wanted to be with her is because he didn't like being divorced and alone. Yet another prospect, named Eddie, was the best lover Dorothy ever had, but Dorothy finally had to break up with Eddie as well because their relationship never progressed past the physical stage. Her high school teacher, Mr. Gordon, whom she had a crush on, came back into her life many years later, only to take credit for an article that she had written. Stan's brother, Ted, told her that he had a crush on her since they were young, and then he "spent the night" with her, nearly destroying her friendship with Blanche, who had gone out with Ted earlier that night. Later, Ted asks Dorothy to baby-sit kids belonging to a stewardess that he wants to date, making Dorothy feel humiliated. However, Dorothy got her revenge when she announced to everyone in the nightclub they were meeting in that he was impotent before she left.

A few other suitors were portrayed by well-known actors, including Dick Van Dyke and Leslie Nielsen, whose character (Lucas Hollingsworth, an uncle of Blanche's) she married over the course of the final two-part episode.

In spite of her strength, Dorothy does have phobias, namely hospitals and flying. She eventually managed to conquer both her fears, however, with help from her friends.

In keeping with the show's practice of raising social awareness, a two-part episode involved Dorothy suffering from extreme exhaustion, which was ultimately determined to be Chronic Fatigue Syndrome; Susan Harris, the show's co-writer, also suffered from the then-unknown condition. In an earlier episode, Dorothy's friend, Jean, a lesbian, came to Miami for a visit, and struck up a close friendship with Rose, with whom Jean soon realized she was in love. Dorothy was also shown to have a recurring gambling problem that eventually caused her to seek help through Gamblers Anonymous. She started smoking cigarettes again after quitting many years earlier, because of stress from her mother's re-marriage and work. Presumably, she was able to kick the habit, since we never see her with a cigarette again.In the episode Stan Takes A Wife, Dorothy states that she is a Leo during a conversation.

Dorothy also appeared in two episodes of The Golden Girls' short-lived successor, The Golden Palace.