The Golden Girls (TV Series)

The Operation (1986)

Bea Arthur: Dorothy Zbornak

Photos 

Quotes 

• Bonnie : [In hospital, Dorothy is very nervous about surgery on her foot. Bonnie, the lady in the bed next to her, is exercising]  I hope my exercising doesn't bother you.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : No not at all. What is it some kind of therapy you have to do?

  Bonnie : No - I just like to stay healthy.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Well, I hate to break this to you, Bonnie, but you're in a hospital the exercises aren't working.

  Bonnie : Surgery today, huh?

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Yes. And I might as well warn you I am the best patient in the whole world.

  Bonnie : Oh I can put up with it for one night. And then tomorrow it is my turn in the operating room.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : You're having surgery too?

  Bonnie : Yep.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : And you're smiling?

  Bonnie : I've had this procedure before, the first time I was as nervous as you are. This time I know what to expect.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : You're having the same operation, again? I mean, don't they get it right around here the first time.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Oh no, its nothing like that. About three years ago I had a mastectomy and - now I'm in for another.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : And you're not scared?

  Bonnie : I'm petrified. No one's that brave accept in the movies and on television. But at least this time I know what I'm facing. I've gone through all the steps before. I have considered the alternatives... dealt with the reality. The last time - I think I cried the moment the doctor told me and I didn't stop until they wheeled me off to surgery. And later, I cried because there was so much pain I didn't think it would ever go away, but it did. And it will again. You get through it. You go on. When it comes right down to it what other choice do we have? It could have been a lot worse I could have missed out on these last three years.

  [Dorothy is teary eyed and silent] 

  Bonnie : Dorothy, are you alright?... How'd you feel?

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Like a fool. Like a damn fool.

• Nurse : The doctors will be in to prep you for surgery in about an hour, until then just relax.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : There aren't enough drugs in this entire building.

• Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : How much longer is this going to take? I'm tired of being poked, prodded and probed. More men have seen my backside in one day than in my entire life.

• Blanche Devereaux : [sees Dorothy outside]  Dorothy?

  [goes over to sliding door] 

  Blanche Devereaux : Dorothy, what in the hell are you doing out there?

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Uh checking the sprinkler system. Looks good, goodnight.

• Sophia Petrillo : Do you have any idea how much it hurts a mother to see her child in pain? Worse than the 22 hours of labor...

  Sophia Petrillo , Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : It took to bring you into this world. Worse than the burns I got working nights as a fry cook to put you through college. Worse than...

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Alright Ma, I'll have the surgery, you win, but you don't play fair.

  Sophia Petrillo : That's why I always win.

• Sophia Petrillo : I'm just here for moral support.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : I already got plenty of that from my roommate.

  [turns over and finds Bonnie's bed empty] 

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Oh she's gone! And I never thanked her.

  Sophia Petrillo : Relax, she's not the Lone Ranger, she'll be back, I sent her to the cafeteria to get me a sandwich.

• Rose Nylund : I'll never forget the things I saw the one summer I worked as a candy striper: misplaced patients, mixed up medications, botched operations...

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Rose, do a big ugly man with a limp a favor and shut up.

• Sophia Petrillo : So Dorothy, you don't want to go back to the hospital?

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : No.

  Sophia Petrillo : You don't want the doctor to operate?

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : No.

  Sophia Petrillo : Fine, then we'll do it here. Blanche, boil some water and clear the table. Rose, sharpen my Ginzu knife. Dorothy, pick out a shoe you'd like to bite on.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : You're not serious!

  Sophia Petrillo : No, I'm only being as ridiculous as you.

• Blanche Devereaux : I think this is a lovely hospital room, don't you think it's lovely, Rose?

  Rose Nylund : It's very lovely... I just can't help but think of how many people have never left this room.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : Where are they, Rose, hiding in the shower?

  Sophia Petrillo : She means a lot of people probably croaked in here.

  Dorothy Petrillo-Zbornak : I know what she means, but I don't need to hear it the night before my operation.