Alvin Newcastle

is a character who appears in the Season 3 opening episode of The Golden Girls titled "Old Friends". The part of Alvin is played by veteran character actor Joe Seneca.

About Alvin
Sophia's new friend, Alvin Newcastle, who is a retiree who lives at the Ocean Mist Retirement hotel, is also an authorized security guard there, which may have been his vocation in his earlier years. The two have a common accquaintance, a Molly Feinstein, who lives there at the hotel. The two immediately bond, but, as the friendship begins to develop upon their initial meeting, the old fellow's behavior becomes erratic, as Sophia reminds him of his wife Edna as he has trouble remembering her name.



When Alvin is late in meeting Sophia at the beachside boardwalk, he, who was supposed to meet her at 9:00am, arrives an hour late after missing the bus he usually takes on the way, as he blames it on "that dumb-ass driver who went the wrong way!" Then he is anger by Sophia sitting in his place and calls her selfish. However the next day Sophia is being careful with him but thinks his lack of acknowledgement is his way of saying sorry.

Later on that day, Sophia learns that Alvin suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. Earlier that day, Dorothy (who followed Sophia just in case anything went wrong) meets Alvin's daughter Sandra (Janet MacLachlan), who confides in Dorothy that it's a daily struggle with looking after her father, who, after once wandering off at one time, forced her to take off of her job, in taking a leave of absence, to look after him. Alvin eventually winds up getting moved to New York City at the behest of his daughter, and it's later revealed by Dorothy to Sophia during the reveal of Alvin's condition, that he will be living with his nephew, who's a doctor who knows how to take special care of Alvin. At the end Sophia who was waiting all day on the bench realizes when Dorothy greets her that Alvin has gone, she wonders if Alvin will still remember her name, let alone the time they spent together sitting on the boardwalk and rather than visit Alvin in New York next time she visits she will post it that way she can remember him at his bench.

Trivia

 * Sophia would later have a friend called Lillian who had an Dementia of some kind.
 * The episode Old Friends earned Estelle Getty her solo Emmy.
 * Sophia in Clinton Avenue Memoir feared that her memory was serious thankfully it was diet related.
 * Estelle Getty would suffer from Dementia in later life.