Rose Nylund

Rose Lindstrom Nylund was a fictional character featured on the popular 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, and its spin-off The Golden Palace. She was portrayed by Betty White for 13 years. Rose was comically portrayed as naive and simple, although arguably the most kind-hearted. She was best known for her rambling, nonsensical stories about her bizarre hometown, St. Olaf, Minnesota, that her roommates endured with exasperated silence—and the occasional muttered insult. Rose was born out of wedlock in 1930 (she was 55 when the show began in September 1985) to a monk and his lover. Her biological mother died during childbirth and her father returned to the monastery. Her first eight years of life were spent in an orphanage; during this time she developed a conviction that her biological father was Bob Hope, a belief she would retain until she met her real father toward the end of the series. She was adopted by Gunter and Alma Lindstrom, and raised on a dairy farm in St. Olaf, Minnesota.... full article at wikipedia