Bea Arthur makes the Television Academy's Hall of Fame...

This is cool news: Beatrice Arthur, best-known as television's "Maude" and as Dorothy on "The Golden Girls," has been named one of the six 2008 inductees into the Academy of Television Arts and Science's Hall of Fame joining such past female TV icons as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore.

We all know the gays love her because no one can deliver a bitchy line as well as Bea Arthur! But here's the official bio from the Academy: Bea Arthur is a two-time Emmy® Award-winning and a Tony Award-winning comedienne, actress and singer. In a career spanning six decades, Arthur is best remembered for her trademark role as the title character Maude Findlay on the 1970's sitcom Maude, in which she portrayed an outspoken feminist living in affluent Westchester County with her husband and divorced daughter. The show ran for six years, during which time many controversial topics, including abortion, were tackled. In 1985, she was cast as Dorothy Zbornak, the divorced substitute teacher on The Golden Girls. On stage, her many roles include "Lucy Brown" in the 1954 off-Broadway premiere of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, "Yente the Matchmaker" in 1964's Fiddler on the Roof, and a 1966 Tony Award-winning portrayal of "Vera Charles" in Mame, a role she recreated for the film version in 1974. In 2002, she made a triumphant return to Broadway starring in Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, a collection of stories and songs based on her life and long career. The show was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event.

Also being inducted are Dan Burke, Larry Gelbart, Merv Griffin, Tom Murphy and Sherwood Schwartz .