Rue McClanahan

Rue McClanahan

McClanahan at a book signing for her book My First Five Husbands, May 17, 2007
Born Eddi-Rue McClanahan[1]
February 21, 1934(1934-02-21)
Healdton, Oklahoma, U.S.
Died June 3, 2010(2010-06-03) (aged 76)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Actress, Comedienne, Author
Years active 1957–2010
Spouse Tom Bish (1958–1959)
Norman Hartweg (1959–1961)
Peter DeMaio (1964–1971)
Gus Fisher (1976–1978)
Tom Keel (1985–1986)
Morrow Wilson (1997–2010) (her death)

Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an Emmy Award winning and a Golden Globe Award nominated American actress, best known for her roles on television as Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987.

Contents

Early life

McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklahoma, the daughter of Dreda Rheua-Nell (née Medaris), a beautician, and William Edwin McClanahan, a building contractor.[1][2][3]

She was of Irish and Choctaw Indian ancestry,[3] and grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma; she graduated from Ardmore High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Tulsa;[1] she majored in German and Theater, and was a member of the woman's fraternity Kappa Alpha Theta. She was also a National Honor Society Member.

Early career

McClanahan made her professional stage début at Pennsylvania's Erie Playhouse in 1957, in the play Inherit the Wind.[1] She began acting on off-Broadway in New York City in 1957, but did not make her Broadway début until 1969, when she portrayed Sally Weber in the original production of John Sebastian and Murray Schisgal's musical, Jimmy Shine, with Dustin Hoffman in the title role.

Her role as Caroline Johnson on Another World (from July 1970 to September 1971) brought her notoriety. On the show, while taking care of twins Michael and Marianne Randolph, Caroline fell in love with their father, John, and began poisoning their mother, Pat. The short-term role was extended to more than a year before Caroline was finally brought to justice after kidnapping the twins. Once her role on Another World ended, McClanahan joined the cast of the CBS soap Where the Heart Is, in which she played Margaret Jardin.[2]

Primetime success

The handprints of Rue McClanahan in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.

Maude

In Maude, broadcast from 1972 to 1978, McClanahan played Maude's (Bea Arthur) best friend, Vivian Harmon.

The Golden Girls

In The Golden Girls, broadcast from 1985 until 1992, and in The Golden Palace for one year afterwards, McClanahan portrayed man-crazed Southern belle Blanche Devereaux, who was the owner of a house inhabited by four room-mates: herself, Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty).While leasing the rooms of the house to Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia, they all became best of friends. She received an Emmy Award in 1987 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show.

Other work

She also appeared as a leader of Al-Anon in a 1970s informational video called "Slight Drinking Problem," in which Patty Duke played the enabling and eventually self-empowered wife of an alcoholic. In feature films McClanahan starred in 1961's The Rotten Apple, as well as Walk the Angry Beach in 1968. In 1971 she played a vicious fag hag in the film Some of My Best Friends Are..., which was set in a gay bar. In 1990, McClanahan starred as Matilda Joslyn Gage, mother-in-law of L. Frank Baum in the made-for-TV movie The Dreamer of Oz.

McClanahan guest-starred on Newhart, and played Aunt Fran Crowley on the first two seasons of Mama's Family. She also voice-acted in cartoons, voicing Scarlett in the 1997 Fox Christmas special Annabelle's Wish. She was Grandma on the Blue's Clues video Blue's Big Treasure Hunt (1999). In the 1994 Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode "Doctor Octopus: Armed And Dangerous", she was Anastasia Hardy.[2] The 2007 King of the Hill episode "Hair Today, Gone Today" cast her as Bunny. In 2009, she appeared in an episode of Law & Order as a woman who had an affair with John F. Kennedy.

Later life

An animal welfare advocate and vegetarian,[1][4] McClanahan was one of the first celebrity supporters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).[1]

A Democrat, in December 2003, she wrote a letter informing Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry that his pheasant hunting had cost him her vote and respect.[1] In a July 2008 interview, she weighed in on the 2008 Presidential campaigns. Regarding Barack Obama, she said:

“ This is the damnedest election I've ever lived through, and Obama is the most amazing candidate I've ever bumped into. The man has unshakable integrity. He's the nearest thing to Lincoln we've seen. ”

—Rue McClanahan, Interview at Queerty.com[5]

In 2003, she appeared in the musical romantic comedy film The Fighting Temptations as Nancy Stringer, which co-starred Cuba Gooding, Jr., Beyonce Knowles, Mike Epps and Steve Harvey. She replaced Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked on May 31, 2005. She played the role for eight months and departed the cast on January 8, 2006. She was replaced by Carol Kane on January 10, 2006.

Her autobiography, My First Five Husbands...and the Ones Who Got Away, was released in 2007.[1][4]

In June 2008, The Golden Girls was awarded the 'Pop Culture' award at the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards. McClanahan accepted the award with co-stars Bea Arthur and Betty White.[6]

McClanahan's last acting role was in the cable series Sordid Lives on the Logo network, which premiered July 23, 2008, playing Peggy Ingram, the older sister of Sissy Hickey and mother of Latrelle, LaVonda and Earl "Brother Boy".

Rue was a supporter of Gay Rights and was an advocate for same sex marriage in the United States. In January 2009, she appeared in the star studded "Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert — A Celebrity Benefit for Equal Rights".[7]

Health and death

In June 1997, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, for which she was treated successfully.

On November 14, 2009, she was to be honored for her lifetime achievements at an event "Golden: A Gala Tribute To Rue McClanahan" at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California.[8] The event was postponed due to McClanahan's hospitalization. She had triple bypass surgery on November 4. It was announced on January 14, 2010, by Entertainment Tonight that, while recovering from surgery, she had suffered a minor stroke. In March 2010, fellow Golden Girls cast member Betty White reported on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that McClanahan was doing well and that her speech had returned to normal.[9]

McClanahan died on June 3, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. in the New York–Presbyterian Hospital after she suffered another stroke and subsequently a brain hemorrhage.[10][11][12] She was 76 years old. She died with her son, Mark Bish, her sister and a nephew by her side.[13] According to her rep, "Last week, she told her publicist...she was doing great. She didn't feel well on Monday."[14] Her body was cremated[15] after her death.

McClanahan's longtime friend Betty White, who co-starred with her on both Mama's Family and The Golden Girls, told Entertainment Tonight that Rue was a "close friend and dear friend" and that her death "hurts more than I ever thought it would".[16]

McClanahan was survived by her sixth husband, Morrow Wilson (from whom she separated in 2009), her son from her first marriage, Mark Bish of Austin, Texas, her sister, Melinda L. McClanahan, of Silver City, New Mexico and a nephew, Brendan Kinkade.[11] There were no funeral services for McClanahan so her family created an official memorial page on Facebook to honor her,[17] and memorial services were held during the summer of 2010 in New York and Los Angeles.[11] On June 10, 2010 McClanahan's extravagant New York apartment went on the market for $2.25 million.[18][19]

Blanche, Rose and Sophia hug at the end of the final scene of The Golden Girls, aired on May 9, 1992.

In honor of her memory, WE tv-which airs reruns of The Golden Girls; had a weeklong memorium for McClanahan airing episodes featuring the best of Blanche from Monday, June 7 to Friday, June 11, 2010.[20] The final episode from that week to air was the series very last episode, part two of "One Flew Out of the Cukoo's Nest" in which Dorothy marries Blanche's Uncle Lucas and moves out of the house.

Nominations and awards

Emmy Award Nominations:

Golden Globe Nominations:

Obie Awards (off-Broadway):

Golden Apple Awards:

TV Land Awards:

Television work

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Rue McClanahan Biography". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/rue-mcclanahan/bio/173246. Retrieved 2010-06-03. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Rue McClanahan Biography (1934?-)". filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/5/Rue-McClanahan.html. Retrieved 2010-06-06. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 McClanahan, Rue (2007). palm eBook store: Excerpt from My First Five Husbands ... And the Ones Who Got Away. Broadway Group, Doubleday Books, Random House. ISBN 978-0-7679-2694-2. http://store.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book_excerpt&bookid=45261&si=60. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jooley Ann (2007-04-27). "Austinist interviews Rue McClanahan". The Austinist. http://austinist.com/2007/04/27/austinist_interviews_rue_mcclanahan.php. Retrieved 2010-06-03. 
  5. ↑ "Rue On Obama, Boring Sex". Queerty.com. David Hauslaib. 2008-07-11. http://www.queerty.com/rue-on-obama-boring-sex-20080711/. Retrieved 2010-06-04. 
  6. ↑ "TV Land Awards Party Like It's 1979". E! Online. 2008-06-08. Archived from the original on 2008-07-31. http://web.archive.org/web/20080731105008/http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b141707_tv_land_awards_party_like_its_1979.html. Retrieved 2010-06-03. 
  7. ↑ Gans, Andrew. "Prop 8 Musical Will Be Part of Star-Studded Defying Inequality Benefit". Playbill.com. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/125604-Prop-8-Musical-Will-Be-Part-of-Star-Studded-Defying-Inequality-Benefit. Retrieved 2009-01-26. 
  8. ↑ [1]
  9. ↑ "Betty White on Ellen Degeneres". YouTube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqua08BV4Yo. 
  10. ↑ "Youngest Golden Girl Rue McClanahan dies of stroke". Hot Zone. 2010-06-03. http://www.hotzoneonline.com/archives/5727. Retrieved 2010-06-04. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Nelson, Valerie J. (2010-06-04). "'Golden Girl' Rue McClanahan dies". Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-na-rue-mcclanahan,0,3228841.story. Retrieved 2010-06-04. 
  12. ↑ Itzkoff, Dave (2010-06-03). "Rue McClanahan, Actress and ‘Golden Girls’ Star, Has Died". The New York Times. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/rue-mcclanahan-actress-and-golden-girls-star-has-died/?hp. Retrieved 2010-06-04. 
  13. ↑ ET Online report of McClanahan's death
  14. ↑ ET Online report
  15. ↑ Rue McClanahan at Find a Grave
  16. ↑ ET Online report
  17. ↑ The Official Rue McClanahan Memorial Page
  18. ↑ Rue McClanahan’s Apartment Hits the Market
  19. ↑ "Rue Mcclanahan - Mcclanahan's Apartment Up For Sale". contactmusic.com. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/mcclanahans-apartment-up-for-sale_1147073. Retrieved 2010-06-13. 
  20. ↑ "The Golden Girls Talk". WEtv.com. http://www.wetv.com/forums/we-tv-shows/the-golden-girls/do-you-have-memories-of-watching-actress-rue-mcclanahan.html. 

External links

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Comedy Series

Mary Tyler Moore (1976) · Beatrice Arthur (1977) · Jean Stapleton (1978) · Ruth Gordon (1979) · Cathryn Damon (1980) · Isabel Sanford (1981) · Carol Kane (1982) · Shelley Long (1983) · Jane Curtin (1984) · Jane Curtin (1985) · Betty White (1986) · Rue McClanahan (1987) · Beatrice Arthur (1988) · Candice Bergen (1989) · Candice Bergen (1990) · Kirstie Alley (1991) · Candice Bergen (1992) · Roseanne Barr (1993) · Candice Bergen (1994) · Candice Bergen (1995) · Helen Hunt (1996) · Helen Hunt (1997) · Helen Hunt (1998) · Helen Hunt (1999) · Patricia Heaton (2000)

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