# Bea Arthur Syndrome, or "We need someone realy ugly!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326 "2005-08-16T21:08:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/61 "2005-08-19T01:48:01Z")
Agnes was also great as the frumpy grouchy frontier wife (of Karl Malden) in _How the West was Won_ and perfect as the white-trash maid/companion in _Hush, Hush Sweet Charlott_ (“Why that there is some kin’ of a dr-u-g, ain’ it?”). She said she took the role of Endora because it was the most glamorous she’d ever been offered. Trivia 1: She had a thing for the color purple you know- her houses, her cars, her dressing rooms, clothes, everything was lavender or some other shade of light purple. Trivia 2: She was doing a pre-Broadway tour for the play _Don Juan in Hell_ and signed to be the spokesperson for Chrysler, but she became too ill from the cancer that killed her to do the commercials. Since time was of the essence, she recommended her co-star, Don Juan from the play, and that’s how Ricardo Montalban and “rich Corinthian leather” came to be. Trivia 3: The twins who played Tabitha absolutely adored her and called her "Grandma-MA off the set as well as on. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/62 "2005-08-19T01:52:01Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Agnes was also great as the frumpy grouchy frontier wife (of Karl Malden) in _How the West was Won_ and perfect as the white-trash maid/companion in _Hush, Hush Sweet Charlott_ (“Why that there is some kin’ of a dr-u-g, ain’ it?”). She said she took the role of Endora because it was the most glamorous she’d ever been offered. > > Trivia 1: She had a thing for the color purple you know- her houses, her cars, her dressing rooms, clothes, everything was lavender or some other shade of light purple. > > Trivia 2: She was doing a pre-Broadway tour for the play _Don Juan in Hell_ and signed to be the spokesperson for Chrysler, but she became too ill from the cancer that killed her to do the commercials. Since time was of the essence, she recommended her co-star, Don Juan from the play, and that’s how Ricardo Montalban and “rich Corinthian leather” came to be. > > Trivia 3: The twins who played Tabitha absolutely adored her and called her "Grandma-MA off the set as well as on. Doesn’t anyone remember her in Citizen Kane, she was not ugly then or later, she was just old later. She was close to 70 when she did Bewitch. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/63 "2005-08-19T02:13:07Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > Doesn’t anyone remember her in Citizen Kane, she was not ugly then or later, she was just old later. She was close to 70 when she did Bewitch. Yep. My favorite of her roles (besides her character in Hush/Charlotte) was Aunt Fanny in The Magnificent Ambersons. I’d like to look half that good at 70. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/64 "2005-08-19T02:13:08Z")
> [@jrfranchi](#): > > Doesn’t anyone remember her in Citizen Kane… Hell yeah. While I wouldn’t say that she has “a face for radio,” I do love her radio work. Most people probably remember her for _Sorry, Wrong Number,_ (and for her early work with Orson Welles on _The Shadow_) – but she was the star on _Suspense_ dozens of times, and always rocked your socks off. Her performance in “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a bit of craft that’s pretty hard to top. Wow. As for her looks, I think she was a handsome woman. She looked fine (and I mean _fine_) in _The Magnificent Ambersons_. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/65 "2005-08-19T02:23:49Z")
I think of her as being a Colorforms™ person. She could go up (_Bewitched, Pollyanna, Who’s Minding the Store?_) or down (_Charlotte, The Conqueror_) or in between (_Kane, Show Boat_). She was also very flexible in the ages she could play as a young and middle aged woman. An actress who was trotted out constantly in the 70s when a hag was needed was [Jeanette Nolan](http://imdb.com/name/nm0634282/). She played wizened country women in \*[Dirty Sally (pic)](http://www.obyscountry.com/tv-westerns-files/dirty-sally.jpg) \*, _Awakening Land_, _Chastity Gulch_, etc. even though she was [stunning as a young woman](http://www.thegoldenyears.org/jeanette_nolan.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/66 "2005-08-19T02:25:25Z")
Though I think Lute’s entry of Anne Ramsey is still the winner. She was the queen of ugly. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/67 "2005-08-19T03:57:52Z")
I’m surprised nobody has mentioned [Heather Matarazzo](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000525/). Here is a girl who made a movie at the age of 13 ([Welcome to the Dollhouse](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114906/)) that was pretty much centered around how ugly she was. She hasn’t much grown out of that role, either, playing the ugly friend in all of the movies I’ve seen her in since then. She must have a helluva personality, though. She’s not particularly heinous but definitely on the uglier end of “Hollywood ugly.” Looking at pictures of her, she looks strikingly normal, which is in fact quite refreshing. Also, the girl who plays [Ann](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0926165/) (Egg) from _Arrested Development_ is not bad looking IRL but man do they dress her down. The bangs really, really don’t work on her. I have a theory for that show that they are going to turn her into a SeXXX Goddess soon (they have already worked on an underlying plot about how she is a tightly repressed sexual font ready to blow). ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/68 "2005-08-19T15:47:22Z")
Finally thought of one. [Michael Berryman](http://www.savini.com/berryman.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/69 "2005-08-19T17:34:48Z")
> [@Knowed Out](#): > > Finally thought of one. > > [Michael Berryman](http://www.savini.com/berryman.jpg) We have a winner! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/70 "2005-08-19T18:31:28Z")
He’s not so bad. He’s got sort of a Christopher Lloyd as a Munster look. Actually, Christopher Lloyd is another unconventional-looking guy who’s found some good roles. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/71 "2005-08-19T18:39:57Z")
[Reta Shaw](http://www.what-a-character.com/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=982803718) And Alice “Large Marge” Nunn. They were pretty interchangeable. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/72 "2005-08-19T21:44:43Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#): > > I think [Agnes Moorehead] was a handsome woman. She looked fine (and I mean _fine_) in _The Magnificent Ambersons_. Ironically, in _Magnificent Ambersons_, she plays the part of the dowdy, spinster aunt who’s bitter about never having been loved. The “Wizard of Oz” DVD has a special feature about the cultural impact the movie has made. It includes a brief bit of a filmed interview Margaret Hamilton gave before her death. In it she states (paraphrasing): "My agent told me they [the studio] were interested in casting me in “Wizard” and I was so excited. I loved that book for so many years! Then I asked my agent what part they wanted me to play. He said “the wicked witch…_who else_?” The way Hamilton relates the story, you can tell she wasn’t really bitter or bitchy about it; but she does mug a dismayed face to indicate she was a bit nonplussed by that comment. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/73 "2005-08-20T02:01:38Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > Ironically, in _Magnificent Ambersons_, she plays the part of the dowdy, spinster aunt who’s bitter about never having been loved. “Dowdy,” my [Aunt Fanny](http://www.ambersons.com/images/fanny.jpg). _Vavoom!_ Of course, she doesn’t look quite that good near the end of the movie, when she’s bitter & broke… but still… _yeah, baby._ ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326/74 "2005-08-20T03:36:53Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Margaret Hamilton as Mrs Olson was just sweet! Margaret Hamilton played Cora in ads for Maxwell House Coffee. Mrs. Olson, who appeared in commercials for Folgers, was played by [Virginia Christine.](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0160417/bio) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bea-arthur-syndrome-or-we-need-someone-realy-ugly/317326.md?page=3)