Estelle Getty, actress and adorable little old shrunken lady, passed away today. She was 84. Perhaps best known for her role as cranky and wise-cracking "Ma" Sophia Petrillo to Bea Arthur's Dorothy on the sitcom The Golden Girls, Ms. Getty got her start in the theatre. She once played Harvey Fierstein's mother in the Broadway show Torch Song Trilogy! Those two roles alone ought to cement her in the gay pantheon of revered tough and hilarious broads for the rest of time. Ms. Getty suffered from something called Lewy body dementia, which was misdiagnosed earlier as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. In 2006 she issued a statement through her caregiver about her condition and outlook, telling her fans "that if she has made you laugh, encouraged you to think, and challenged your beliefs, then she has done her job."