Break out the cheesecake: The Golden Girls premiered 40 years ago.

And though its four stars are no longer with us , the bond that Bea Arthur , Betty White , Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty brought to the screen as later-in-life roommates Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia endures.

As do the stories about how their strong personalities clashed in IRL .

“When that red light was on [during filming], there were no more professional people than those women," series coproducer Marsha Posner Williams said in June at a 40th anniversary celebration of the show, part of the Pride LIVE! Hollywood festival . "But when the red light was off, those two couldn’t warm up to each other if they were cremated together."

According to Williams, when White, McClanahan and Getty

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