Dorothy Hollingsworth (nee Petrillo; formerly Zbornak), portrayed by the late 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." Dorothy Petrillo was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929 (which is stated in season 7), to Italian immigrants Sophia and Salvatore Petrillo, and was nicknamed "Pussycat." She has two younger siblings: brother Phil, a cross-dresser, who died later in the show's run; and a sister, Gloria, who was nicknamed "Kitten" and 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 is implied that Dorothy and Sophia are biologically related. In that episode and three others which took place in Dorothy's young adulthood, Dorothy Zbornak was portrayed by a tall, dark-haired actress named Lynnie Greene.

In the episode "Clinton Avenue Memoirs," Dorothy was shown as a young child (played by Jandi Swanson) jealous of the attention that her parents were giving to her baby brother Phil, until her father tells her that he loves her very much. She was a "bookworm", and an over-achiever in high school. Yet, she suffered from low self-esteem, in part 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 honeymooning in Miami. 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).

Similar to 0 things you like: