Dorothy Zbornak
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Dorothy Petrillo Zbornak (Now Hollingsworth) is a fictional character from the TV series, The Golden Girls. She was portrayed by Beatrice Arthur.
[edit] Introduction
Dorothy was born in Brooklyn, New York, probably before 1929, to Sophia Petrillo and Salvadore Petrillo. She has two younger siblings: a cross-dressing brother, Phil, and gold-digging sister, Gloria. Though a "bookworm" over-achiever in high school, she became pregnant at 17, resulting in a shotgun wedding to Stanley Zbornak (Herb Edelman). She remained married for 38 years and had two children, Michael and Kate. Though it's never explicitly mentioned, it is implied in a few episodes that Michael was the firstborn that she became pregnant with in high school. Dorothy and Stan eventually divorced because of her husband's infidelity. She worked as a substitute teacher of American History and English.
Prior to the beginning of the series, Dorothy moved into a home in Miami, Florida with Blanche Devereaux and Rose Nylund. Shortly thereafter, her mother, Sophia, moved in after her nursing home, Shady Pines, burned beyond repair. 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'd gotten pregnant. Lorraine was African-American and almost twice Michael's age, which initially didn't sit well with Dorothy because she felt Michael and Lorraine had too little in common for the marriage to work. Kate's husband, Dennis, cheated on her, but she took him back, almost causing Dorothy and Kate to stop speaking, but they eventually reconciled. Michael left his wife in Season 5, but the only mention made of their child (Dorothy's grandchild) is during one of the Christmas shows (she was buying a Batman gift for him). This was often the case with characters on the show who appeared at random, generally only to serve as plot points.
Like the other women in the household, 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 remarried 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 up the whole thing 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 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 husband. Yet another prospect, named Eddie, was the best lover Dorothy had ever had, but Dorothy finally had to break up with Eddie as well because their relationship never progressed past the physical stage.
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 episodes.
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 relatively 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 she 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.
Dorothy also appeared in two episodes of The Golden Girls' short-lived successor, The Golden Palace.
