Rue McClanahan, who played man-happy Blanche Devereaux on the wildly successful and critically acclaimed Touchstone Television series The Golden Girls, has died. She was 76. A spokesman said that at the time of her death Thursday morning, McClanahan “had her family with her. She went in peace.”
Born on February 21, 1934 in Healdton, Oklahoma, Rue graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa, where she majored in German and Theatre, before embarking on what would become a highly successful career in theater, commercials, television and film. Gifted, spirited and blessed with an uncanny sense of comic timing, Rue is perhaps best known for her role as Blanche Devereaux in The Golden Girls, which aired on NBC from 1985 to 1992.
Rue began her acting career in New York City in 1957 and made her Broadway debut in 1969, portraying Sally Weber in the musical Jimmy Shine with Dustin Hoffman in the title role. The following year she landed her breakout role in the NBC TV soap Another World, utterly nailing the part of maniacal nanny Caroline Johnson. Rue then joined the cast of the CBS soap Where the Heart Is, where she grabbed the spotlight again, this time playing Margaret Jardin, another character of questionable intentions.
From 1972 to 1984, she played a variety of TV roles, including her charming performance as Vivian Cavender Harmon in Maude, the multiple award-winning CBS series. But it was in 1985 with The Golden Girls that Rue found the perfect character for her unique comic talents, and playing the sarcastic, rapier-witted Blanche Devereaux gave Rue the chance to give full vent to her comedic range.
“I’m playing a man-crazy, self-centered widow, and I’m having a lot of fun doing it!”
she said during the show’s run. “I’m very lucky and thrilled to be back with Bea (Arthur) and Betty (White), two wonderful actresses I’ve worked with before (on Maude and Mama’s Family, respectively). And, of course, the hilarious Estelle Getty is a delight.”
For her work on the series, Rue received the Emmy Award® for Best Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987. In 1992, Rue starred in The Golden Palace, again for Touchstone Television, in which she reprised the role of Blanche, this time — with dreams of becoming the next Leona Helmsley dancing in her head — convincing her roommates, Rose and Sophia, to pool their resources and buy an art deco hotel in Miami Beach.
Rue recently said she still thinks often about her friends from The Golden Girls cast. “I was washing my face the other day and thought, ‘What if I was working today and walked onto the soundstage and Bea and Estelle were there?’ Those days were truly golden.”
Her husband, Morrow Wilson, survives her, as does a son, Mark Bish, from her first marriage.