Hallmark Channel to honor Bea Arthur

The Hallmark Channel will run a tribute to actress Bea Arthur this week with a marathon airing of the comedy "The Golden Girls" starting Tuesday night.

Hallmark Channel said fans of the 1980s comedy flooded the network with messages of appreciation after it announced a Memorial Day tribute to Arthur, who died of cancer last week at 86.

In response, the network decided to expand the tribute with a "Best of the Dorothy Zbornak Episodes" beginning Tuesday night and continuing through Sunday.

The schedule: Tuesday, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.; Wednesday, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.; Thursday, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.;, Sunday, 6 a.m.-3 a.m.; and the previously announced Memorial Day schedule, Monday, May 25, 6:30 a.m.-2:30 a.m.

Arthur was a longtime theater actress who first gained fame on television in the 1970s sitcom "Maude." She went on to star in "The Golden Girls" with Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty as four previously married women live together in Miami. She won Emmys for both roles.

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