LOVEABLE QUIRKY PEEPS

6/4/10

ANOTHER MEMORY FADES AWAY....

" WHEN PEOPLE MATURE, THEY ADD LAYERS..."


NEW YORK – Rue McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series "The Golden Girls," has died. She was 76.

Her manager, Barbara Lawrence, said McClanahan died Thursday morning at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital of a brain hemorrhage. She had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997 and later lectured to cancer support groups on "aging gracefully." In 2009, she had heart bypass surgery.

McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Okla., to building contractor William McClanahan and his wife, Dreda Rheua-Nell, a beautician. She graduated with honors from the University of Tulsa with a degree in German and theater arts.
McClanahan had an active career in off-Broadway and regional stages in the 1960s before she was tapped for TV in the 1970s for the key best-friend character on the hit series "Maude," starring Beatrice Arthur. After that series ended in 1978, McClanahan landed the role as Aunt Fran on "Mama's Family" in 1983.

But her most loved role came in 1985 when she co-starred with Arthur, Betty White and Estelle Getty in "The Golden Girls," a runaway hit that broke the sitcom mold by focusing on the foibles of four aging — and frequently eccentric — women living together in Miami.
"Golden Girls" aimed to show "that when people mature, they add layers," she told The New York Times in 1985. "They don't turn into other creatures. The truth is we all still have our child, our adolescent, and your young woman living in us."
Blanche, who called her father "Big Daddy," was a frequent target of roommates Dorothy, Rose and the outspoken Sophia (Getty), who would fire off zingers at Blanche such as, "Your life's an open blouse."


The We TV cable network said it would honor McClanahan with a marathon of "Golden Girls" episodes featuring Blanche on Friday night. The Logo network said it would replay all episodes of "Sordid Lives," her last TV series, on Sunday.

In 2008, McClanahan appeared in the Logo comedy "Sordid Lives: The Series," playing the slightly addled, elderly mother of an institutionalized drag queen.
During production, McClanahan was recovering from 2007 surgery on her knee. It didn't stop her from filming a sex scene in which the bed broke, forcing her to hang on to a windowsill to avoid tumbling off.

McClanahan was married six times: Tom Bish, with whom she had a son, Mark Bish; actor Norman Hartweg; Peter D'Maio; Gus Fisher; and Tom Keel. She married Morrow Wilson on Christmas Day in 1997. She called her 2007 memoir "My First Five Husbands ... And the Ones Who Got Away."
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I loved 'The Golden Girls' and watch re-runs whenever I can. If you search 'Golden Girls' on YouTube, they have quite a few clips and even episodes to watch.

Rest in Peace Blanche.




See ya Yesterday...

4 comments:

Artistic Accents by Darla said...

I was saddened to hear this....I loved her in the Golden Girls!

Viki said...

I used to love Blanche on the Golden Girls. She really did that character well.

PⒿ @ $ € € ₦$ ₣®0₥... said...

This just about killed me! The only one left is Betty White! It's the end of old Hollywood.......

The Cello Strings said...

thank you for the update,
I do not watch movie that much,
but admire what you do...
Happy Friday!
Take Good Care.