Estelle Getty: Mother to Many Actress Estelle Getty gained fame by playing Sophia Petrillo on ""The Golden Girls."" The feisty daughter of Jewish immigrants and a theater lover from birth, she has played mom to many Hollywood actors — and to two real-life sons. Getty was bit by the show-business bug at a tender young age. The daughter of Jewish immigrants who settled in Manhattan, Getty saw her first vaudeville act at the age of four and was hooked. As a teenager, she auditioned for every play that came along. When she started working as a secretary, she would only take jobs with employers who would let her leave early so she could moonlight at theaters. After tying the knot with Arthur Gettleman (a man not intimidated by her quick wit), Getty settled down in Queens. She quickly became part of a tight-knit group of left-leaning activists, many of whom were blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Getty's two sons, Carl and Barry, later followed their mother's activist lead by protesting the