Sophia Petrillo

Sophia was born in Sicily to Don Angelo, Sr. and Eleanor Grisanti. She had two sisters, Angela and Regina, and a brother, Angelo, Jr. Although another brother was mentioned, he was unnamed and was only spoken of a few times. Dorothy mentions an "Uncle Vito" in Season 2, but it is unclear whether he is Sophia's brother or the brother of her husband, Salvadore. Many of Sophia's stories about her life in Sicily take place in 1912, including some where she details being a young woman having romantic relationships. However, when the show began in 1985 she was described as being 80, which would make her birth in 1905 and only 7 years old in 1912. It is unclear whether this is a continuity error or a cognition error on the part of Sophia.

As a teenager, while living in a village in Sicily, Sophia was briefly engaged to a young man, Augustine Bagatelli. She also claims that she was once engaged to her brother - something largely dismissed as a joke in the episode. Later, she became engaged to Giuseppe Mangiacavallo, who jilted her at the altar. Sophia's first marriage to Guido Spirelli (she was 14 and it was an arranged marriage) ended in annulment, after which, she moved to New York, which left her with no accent to show she had grown up speaking the Sicilian language. Instead, she sports a Brooklyn accent with a fast speaking pace, which often contributed to the humor in her one-liners.[5]

Sophia later married Salvadore "Sal" Petrillo (played in flashbacks by Sid Melton) and had three children with him, including Dorothy, now a divorced substitute teacher; and Phil (an unseen character), a cross-dresser with a wife named Angela. He had several children and lived in a trailer park in Newark, New Jersey, and later died of a heart attack during the series. Sophia's other daughter, Gloria (played by Doris Belack and later Dena Dietrich), lived in California and married into money but later lost her husband to an unknown cause. Sophia remained with Salvadore until his death from a heart attack. In a 1985 episode, Sophia mentions that Sal had died 30 years earlier.[6] However, in a 1988 episode, it is stated that Sal died 27 years earlier.[7]

In her later years, Sophia suffered a stroke--the effects of which are said to be a partial explanation for Sophia's blunt, uncensored, and brazen remarks. She was subsequently placed in a retirement home, Shady Pines, by her daughter, Dorothy. However, after Shady Pines was damaged in a fire, Sophia moved in with Dorothy.[8] Sophia didn't have many good things to say about "the home," alluding to poor treatment by the staff many times. Dorothy sometimes threatened to send her back there if she was "behaving badly".

Whilst living in Miami, Sophia had many suitors but did not date any of them for a substantial amount of time. She did, however, remarry once more. Max Weinstock (Jack Gilford) was her late husband's long-time business partner, and someone Sophia had long blamed for ruining the business, although it was later revealed Sal was responsible. Sophia and Max forgave each other after the latter revealed the truth, and the two quickly became close and got married. The newlyweds realized their romance would not work out and they parted ways, as friends. As divorce would have gone against her Roman Catholic beliefs, Sophia and Max never divorced.

Due to Sophia's Sicilian descent, there were regular hints in the series that she and her family had some mafia connections. She made reference to several vendettas, and it was even hinted that Sophia herself had done mob work; she once stated that no one in her family had "ever left a body to be found". Sophia also claimed to have been present at the 1929 St. Valentines Day Massacre, which she then took back, stating, "Oh yeah, I was at the movies that day. All day." It was revealed that she was present at a St. Valentines Day Massacre but not the St. Valentines Day Massacre.

Sophia believed strongly in ancient Sicilian custom and traditions, and in the power of a "Sicilian curse." The list of people she claims to have "cursed" included Shelley Long, the Baltimore Colts, the New York Jets, Giuseppe Mangiacavallo (the boy who stood her up at the altar), and Leonard Barton (the girls' next-door neighbor who expressed a disdain for Italians). She had threatened to cast a curse on Dorothy (before she found out that it was prohibited by another arcane custom), and on Stan Zbornak. In the final season, Sophia spent two episodes doing odd tasks in order to save Dorothy from an ancient curse from a Sicilian strega, or witch.

In the series finale of The Golden Girls, Sophia, after initially deciding to follow the now-married Dorothy out of the house, turned back and decided to stay with Rose and Blanche, which set up the transition to The Golden Palace.

When Rose, Blanche, and Sophia invested in a hotel, Sophia was installed as one of the two chefs, specializing in Italian cuisine while the hotel's previous chef, Chuy Castillos (Cheech Marin), handled Mexican food. Sophia began to show signs of senile dementia, usually in comical situations (for instance, she is shown to be standing still and apparently unconscious while attempting to operate a vacuum cleaner), and her bluntness was toned down to a certain extent. (In reality, Getty would later be diagnosed with Lewy body dementia herself; however, in The Golden Palace, her acting and ability to remember lines had improved compared to on The Golden Girls, during which she had struggled to remember her lines.[9]) In the episode "One Angry Stan" Sophia was the only one to witness Stanley Zbornak after he had faked his death to avoid tax troubles; the fact that no one else saw Stan in these episodes (he ducks out of sight whenever someone else enters the room), coupled with Sophia's increased senility, made it unclear whether or not Stan was really alive, or if Sophia was hallucinating.

After the events of The Golden Palace (which ended without a series finale), Sophia returned to the Shady Pines nursing home, joining the cast of the Golden Girls spin-off, Empty Nest for its last two seasons. She had previously made a guest appearance in Season 1 and Season 4.