You might not have heard of Andrew Gold, but you've definitely heard his work.

The singer-songwriter worked with luminaries like Linda Ronstadt, Art Garfunkel, Celine Dion, James Taylor and Sir Paul McCartney in the '70s, but he was most famous for the iconic tune 'Thank You For Being a Friend,' which was used as the theme song for 'The Golden Girls' during the sitcom's seven-year run.

Gold died Friday of a heart attack in Los Angeles at age 59. You know what this means -- Betty White will truly outlive us all.

After the jump, sing along with us as we honor Gold's life (and amazing contribution to the TV landscape).

'The Golden Girls' celebrates its 25th anniversary today. The show premiered on Sept. 14, 1985 and during its seven-year run, it won two Emmys and three Golden Globes. Its platinum cast (Beatrice Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty) was also honored, with each lady earning multiple Emmy nominations and at least one win each.

So, in honor of the 'Golden Girls' birthday, we compiled fun facts and clips from the classic NBC sitcom.

Some of the tidbits so startling, you might want to reach for that extra ginkoba (yes, that is George Clooney!).

Veterans of early TV are scarce these days, most being retired or, well, really retired. But after 61 years in the business, the legendary Betty White is enjoying her third or fourth career resurgence -- and told AOL TV she's thrilled to be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Sandra Bullock at the SAG Awards on Jan. 23.

After doing radio and summer stock back in the 1940s, White's big break came as the "telephone girl" on a live, local Los Angeles show, 'Hollywood on Television,' hosted by popular DJ Al Jarvis. With all honors to Lucille Ball and 'I Love Lucy,' that gig led to the creation of one of the first female-driven sitcoms, 'Life with Elizabeth.' The TV skies were the limit from there.

This is the weirdest thing you'll see all day. A guy painted the women of The Golden Girls on his face, and in this video he...moves his face around while the show's theme song plays in the background. Talented guy actually, he drew it himself.

You will not forget this anytime soon.

[via Kate Aurthur]

Estelle Getty, the matriarch of The Golden Girls and general wise-ass of the bunch passed away last year. Now, her family has put the Emmy she won for her role of Sophia Petrillo in that show up for sale on eBay. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences have strict rules about such things. If the family no longer wants the award, they are supposed to return it to the Academy.

Ms. Getty's family would hardly be the first to try and raid the treasures of a dead celebrity relative for some cash. It does seem in somewhat bad taste to sell such an honor.

On the other hand, the item hasn't even received any bids yet according to the Variety article (although that may have changed given the increase in publicity). Is it a bigger insult to sell an Emmy or that the Emmy in question hasn't received any interest from the buying public?

This is always the most depressing end-of-year list -- the TV people (in front of and behind the camera) who died during the past year. This is a big list, but if we forgot anyone, let us know in the comments (and check out the obituary category for more).

• Tim Russert
• Majel Barrett Roddenberry
• Bernie Mac
• George Carlin
• Estelle Getty
• Jack Narz
• Tony Snow
• Nina Foch
• Beverly Garland
• Bill Melendez
• Jeff MacKay
• Julius Carry
• George Furth
• Bernie Brillstein

Lifetime is going to honor Estelle Getty, who died yesterday at the age of 84, with a marathon of Golden Girls episodes.

The 10 episode marathon will start at noon this Friday with the pilot episode (the Sophia character looked a lot different in the first few episodes, if I remember correctly). The episodes have been picked because they focus on Sophia.

Fans will get a chance to vote on which episode ends the marathon, the episode they think shows Getty and Sophia the best. MyLifetime.com has narrowed down it down to five episodes: "It's A Miserable Life," "Sisters," "Old Friends," "My Brother, My Father," and "Old Boyfriends." And if you don't know the plots by the episode titles (you'd have to be a Golden Girls fanatic for that), the site gives you a quick synopsis of each one.

One of the Golden Girls has died.

Estelle Getty, who played Bea Arthur's mother (even though Arthur was a year older in real life) on the NBC hit comedy Golden Girls (which also starred Betty White and Rue McClanahan), passed away this morning in Los Angeles. Getty was 84 years old and had been suffering from a disease known as Lewy Body Dementia for a number of years.

Getty appeared in several other TV shows over the years, including the Golden Girls spinoff The Golden Palace (which also starred a young Don Cheadle), Empty Nest, Nurses, Brotherly Love, Mad About You, Touched By An Angel, Blossom, Newhart, Hotel, and many others. She also appeared in the movies Tootsie, Mask, Mannequin, and Stop Or My Mom Will Shoot!

Interesting trivia: Getty played her Sophia Petrillo character in no less than five different shows: Golden Girls, Empty Nest, The Golden Palace, Nurses, and Blossom. That's gotta be some sort of record. She also played a character named Sophia in an episode of Ladies Man in 2000, though the character had a different last name.

How good are you at spotting someone's true age? There's been a few times I've caught myself wondering how old that actor really is on TV, when they're playing someone my age and look ten years older. Do I really look that good? Then again, I've seen the opposite and thought, "damn, I am an old decrepit fart." In any case, I'll pull up IMDb and usually find myself in shock of how young/old the actor on-screen really is.

The whole actor-to-character age ratio thing got me curious, so I did a little research (with the help of some of the TV Squad team) and made a list of some of the more extreme and well-known (or, maybe to some, not-so-well-known) examples. By the way, we didn't include actors who played flashback scenes of their characters for short periods of time, as there are more of those than we have room for.

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