Basic Information
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Arthur Gettleman (listed in some records as Arthur Abraham Gettleman) |
| Known for | Husband of actress Estelle Getty; steady presence behind a public life |
| Marriage | Married Estelle Scher (later known as Estelle Getty) — December 1947 |
| Children | Two sons: Carl Gettleman and Barry Gettleman |
| Occupation | Family/glass business; worked in New York while his wife pursued acting in California |
| Death | 2004 (commonly referenced in public records and obituaries) |
| Public net worth | No reliable public record of Arthur’s personal net worth (Estelle Getty’s net worth is often reported in celebrity profiles for context) |
The Man Offstage — A Storyteller’s Take
When you peel back the bright lamp of celebrity, what you often find is wiring, a stage manager, the quiet souls who keep the show running — and Arthur Gettleman fits that profile like a glove. I like to imagine him as the off-camera hand that steadied the boom mic of a life that, for a time, intersected with one of television’s most beloved ensembles. He wasn’t the face on the marquee — he was the scaffold that let the marquee hang proudly.
Arthur married Estelle Scher in December 1947, long before the laugh tracks and syndicated reruns made The Golden Girls a cultural comfort food. Their partnership, by the calendar, spanned decades — a mid-century marriage turned lifetime in an era when careers and families often pulled people in different directions. Estelle chased an acting dream that led her to California; Arthur stayed rooted in New York, running a family glass business and tending to the practicalities that let a performer chase the spotlight.
Those are the bones: two sons, Carl and Barry, a home-life that doubled as a quiet logistical engine, and a life that, by public record, ended in 2004. But that’s only the skeleton — the flesh of story is in the small moments, which public records rarely capture. I like to think Arthur was the kind of husband who celebrated a good review with a nod, and the kind of father who fielded phone calls from studios with a calm that suggested the world outside their kitchen could wait.
Family Portrait — Names, Roles, and Quiet Presence
Family trees on the internet can be dense hedgerows; one reliable clearing is the fact that Arthur and Estelle had two sons: Carl and Barry Gettleman. Those two names recur in obituaries and family mentions, the sort of repeated notes that become the refrain of a family song.
- Carl Gettleman — Often listed as one of the two sons; appears in press and family notices connected to Estelle and Arthur’s life.
- Barry Gettleman — Mentioned alongside Carl as the sibling pair who grew up with a mother in show business and a father who managed the homefront and a practical trade.
I picture family dinners where Dorothy-like sarcasm met a steady-handed pragmatism; where the laughter that Estelle mined on screen had real-life echoes, and where Arthur’s role was, if anything, more about foundation than flourish.
Career & Public Life — The Businessman Behind the Scenes
If fame is a bright loaf of bread, Arthur’s career was the hearth that kept it warm. Records and profiles that touch on his life most often mention his involvement in the family/glass business — installing glass, running operations, managing a trade that is stubbornly unglamorous but essential. While Estelle worked sets and audition rooms in California, Arthur kept the business in New York humming.
There’s something cinematic about that split: she on long flights to pilot season, him on stoops and storefronts arranging panes and frames — two acts of labor that supported the same family story. He never sought the marquee; his biography is not a script of public accomplishments but a ledger of steady work, a list of bills paid and projects completed, an unflashy archive that nevertheless sustained a household during a time of major career shifts.
Public Record & Net Worth — What’s Known and What Isn’t
Public fascination sometimes demands numbers — net worth, box office tallies, headline-making assets. For Arthur, the ledger is mostly blank in the public domain. There is no widely accepted, reliable figure for Arthur Gettleman’s personal net worth; celebrity finance pages that populated during the internet age focus on Estelle’s career earnings, not on Arthur’s business holdings.
Estelle Getty’s reported net worth is referenced in many places as context for the family’s public financial footprint, but Arthur himself remains more of a human detail than a financial headline. It’s a reminder: not every life leaves a numeric trail, and sometimes the value of a person is measured in steadiness rather than spreadsheets.
Public Mentions, Stories & Social Echoes
When you search for the Gettleman name in public chatter — obituaries, fan forums, and social posts — Arthur is most often introduced as Estelle Getty’s husband, a framing that both honors and flattens him. Obits from the mid-2000s note his passing; fan threads recycle photos of the actress with her family; entertainment write-ups mention the couple and their two sons. There’s gossip — the gentle, repetitive kind that accumulates when a public figure dies or when fandoms collect around a show — but nothing scandalous or sensational; the narrative is domestic, human, and, ultimately, respectful.
It’s telling: in a culture that amplifies the flamboyant and the tragic, Arthur’s life registers as a quieter chord — not silent, but steady. That steadiness is the kind of legacy that doesn’t trend, but it lasts.
A Few Small Anecdotes (What the Records Suggest)
- Married: December 1947 — a detail that places Arthur and Estelle in a post-war America full of shifting dreams.
- Children: Two — Carl and Barry, the next generation who carried the Gettleman name into press notices and memorials.
- Trade: Glass/family business — practical, hands-on work that anchored the family while an acting career unfolded elsewhere.
- Death: 2004 — the year public mentions of Arthur’s life moved from present-tense to memorials and family recollections.
I find the contrast between the bright world of sitcom laughter and the sober world of trade work to be endlessly cinematic — like a B-movie set where the crew outshines the stars in endurance and craft.
FAQ
Who was Arthur Gettleman?
Arthur Gettleman was the husband of actress Estelle Getty, a family businessman who worked in the glass trade and lived primarily in New York.
When did Arthur and Estelle marry?
They married in December 1947.
Who are Arthur Gettleman’s children?
Arthur and Estelle had two sons: Carl Gettleman and Barry Gettleman.
What did Arthur do for a living?
He worked in the family/glass business — practical, hands-on work centered in New York while his wife pursued acting.
When did Arthur Gettleman die?
Public records and obituaries reference his death in 2004.
Is Arthur Gettleman’s net worth public?
No reliable public record lists Arthur Gettleman’s personal net worth; most celebrity finance mentions focus on Estelle Getty.
Are there many public stories about Arthur?
Public mentions are sparse and usually appear in the context of Estelle Getty’s biography, obituaries, and family notices.
Was Arthur involved in show business?
Not as a performer; his role was behind the scenes in family business and domestic support rather than in entertainment production.
