Quentin Tarantino used residual earnings from Golden Girls appearance to make Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino is grateful for his unsuccessful acting career, because it led him to find his true calling as a director. Tarantino chatted with Jimmy Fallon on Wednesday night about his quick role as an Elvis impersonator on the episode of The Golden Girls titled “Sophia’s Wedding: Part 1” during the show’s fourth season and how it helped fund his first film Reservoir Dogs.
“Before I did Reservoir Dogs, I had a very unsuccessful acting career,” the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood director told Fallon. “However, one of the few jobs I did get…and not because I did a wonderful audition, but simply because they sent my picture in and they said, ‘He’s got it!’ was for an Elvis impersonator on The Golden Girls.”
He adds, “It became a two-part Golden Girls. So I got paid residuals for both parts. And, It was so popular they put it on a Best of The Golden Girls, and I got residuals every time that showed. So I got paid maybe, I don’t know, $650 for the episode, but by the time the residuals were over, three years later, I made like $3,000. And that kept me going during our pre-production time trying to get Reservoir Dogs going.”
NBC’s The Golden Girls ran for seven seasons from 1985-1992 and told the stories of four active seniors living in Miami Beach: Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan), Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). All seasons are currently available to stream via Hulu.
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