[edit] Rose Nylund
Main article: Rose Nylund
Rose Nylund (née Lindstrom) was from the small farming town of St. Olaf, Minnesota, a community of Norwegian-Americans that was once referred to by Dorothy as "the cradle of idiocy." Rose delighted in telling profoundly strange stories of life growing up there. Typical stories focused on people with names such as Hans, Lars, or Sven and various experiences with herring. Though Rose was decidedly the mildest-mannered of all four roommates, she had an incredibly competitive streak, which reared its head during several situations, most notably the bowling championship in the episode entitled "The Competition" and while coaching a boys' football team with Dorothy.
Rose is known for being quite naive, and takes everything for its literal meaning. For example, Dorothy once mentioned that she once cut off Stan's sex, prompting Rose to ask, "You mean it grows back?" She is generally considered to be rather dumb, although she occasionally exhibits superior intelligence in certain subjects, such as plumbing (she once helped Dorothy install a new toilet and exhibited thorough knowledge of plumbing parts), and psychology (she claims that the Journal of Abnormal Psychology was published in St. Olaf and that she'd read every issue).
Rose spent the first few years of her life in an orphanage in St. Olaf. As discovered in one memorable episode, she spent much of her life convinced that Bob Hope was her biological father. Toward the end of the series run, however, she learned she had been born out of wedlock to a monk (Don Ameche) and his lover, Ingrid, who died in childbirth. Shortly after birth, as detailed by a similar episode, Rose was left on the doorstep of an unknown family and subsequently adopted and raised by the large (and apparently somewhat bizarre) Lindstroms. Her adoptive father Gunter had died prior to the start of the series, but in one episode she was visited by her free-spirited adoptive mother, Alma whose maiden name was Gerkleknerbeigenhaufstetlerfrau (played by veteran star Jeanette Nolan); she later died off screen during the course of the series. Rose was one of 9 siblings (once stating that her parents loved "all 9 of us equally"); several were, like Rose, named after types of flowers. These included the two sisters who visited Rose in Miami: Lily, who was blind (played by Polly Holliday), and Holly (played by Inga Swenson), a professional musician whom Rose could not stand, as she seemed to act, as Rose once stated, "like such a jackass."
Rose was married for many years to traveling insurance salesman Charlie Nylund, who moonlighted as a horseshoe salesman, and had 5 children: three daughters (Kirsten, Bridgette, and Jeanella) and two sons (Adam and Charlie Jr.). Kirsten and Bridgette would visit their mother in Miami on more than one occasion, while Adam, Charlie Jr., and Jeanella were mentioned but never seen on the show. Rose had several grandchildren, including two granddaughters, Charley and Charlene (the former appeared on the The Golden Girls and the latter of whom visited Rose in The Golden Palace).
After Charlie's death in 1980 (he died of a heart attack while they were making love), Rose lived alone in St. Olaf for a while, and then she moved to Miami and found work at a grief counseling center. During the show's run, Charlie's pension was cut off and Rose was forced to find a more lucrative job, ending up as the assistant to consumer reporter Enrique Mas at a local TV station. Over the course of the series, Rose also volunteered at the local hospital and worked on a number of charity projects.
In later seasons, Rose became romantically involved with college professor Miles Webber (played by Harold Gould). Rose later discovered that Miles was part of the Witness Protection Program). Webber was stated as previously being known as Nicholas Carbone, an accountant from Chicago. After a gangster named Mickey "The Cheese man" Moran faked his own death, Miles was briefly re-located to Pennsylvania as an Amish farmer named Samuel Plankmaker. Incidentally, the same actor who played Miles also played "Arnie," one of Rose's brief love interests in the first season.
When the girls sold the house and bought a hotel, The Golden Palace, Rose became its wedding consultant. She was also in charge of handling all its banquets, conferences, and affairs. While she was handling a wedding reception and setting up the special "Cow-Themed Wedding," Miles' name was found in the hotel registry several times, having checked in several times with another woman. Blanche informs Rose what she has found, Rose confronts Miles with the information, and it comes out that he's not the Miles Webber that was in the hotel registry. Miles did admit he was seeing another woman who worked in a restaurant and that he couldn't choose between them. Rose ends the relationship stating that, after all they'd been through, if he wasn't sure she's the one that he wants to spend the rest of his life with, then he'll never know. Later on, Rose finds out the bride who is having the special "Cow-Themed Wedding," which has always been Rose's dream wedding (for her and Miles), is planning to marry Miles. At the end of the episode, Rose is in the hotel kitchen looking into the banquet room during the wedding ceremony. Rose tells Blanche that she has to be there in order to say goodbye and have closure.
Rose suffered from a number of health problems during the course of the show, most notably a massive heart attack during the show's final season. In one episode, it was also indicated that Rose had been addicted to painkillers for many years, having been prescribed a drug many years earlier after a farm injury. Also, in an episode entitled "72 Hours," Rose is informed that a blood transfusion she received during a routine surgery was possibly infected with HIV. After undergoing some routine tests, and anxiously waiting for 3 days, she is determined to be HIV-negative.
In honor of the character, the real-life township of St. Olaf created the Rose Nylund Award for Civic Excellence.
