28. Fittingly, the Tough as Nails Dorothy Zbornak Had Been a Tough as Nails WWII US Marine Sergeant
Throughout her life, Bea Arthur downplayed her WWII contributions. She denied having served, and steered questioners away by pointing out that others had done far more during the war. However, the documentary record shows that she had, indeed, been among the women who served during WWII. In 1943, aged 21, she enlisted in the US Marine Corps under her birth name, Bernice Frankel. Working as a typist and truck driver, she moved up the ranks from private to staff sergeant, before her honorable discharge in 1945.
While serving in the Marines during the war, she met and married her husband, Robert Arthur, whose last name she took. The marriage was short-lived, but she kept the name and became Beatrice “Bea” Arthur. In hindsight, admirers of her no-nonsense character would probably nod their heads at how apt it is that Maud or Dorothy Zbornak had been a US Marine sergeant.
