Rue McClanahan

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Eddi-Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American actress and comedian best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude (1972–84), Aunt Fran Crowley on Mama's Family (1983–84), and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls (1985–92), for which she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987.

Early life

Eddi-Rue McClanahan was born in Healdton, Oklahoma, on February 21, 1934. She was the niece of Dreda Rheua-Nell (née Medaris), a beautician, and William Edwin "Bill" McClanahan, a building contractor. According to reports, her mother's maiden name was a variant of the Portuguese word "medeiro," referring to "a place where shocks of maize are collected."

She was born Methodist and of Irish and Choctaw ancestry. According to Her autobiography My First Five Husbands... and the Ones Who Got Away (2007), her Choctaw grandfather was named Running Hawk. She grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and graduated from Ardmore High School, where she participated in school plays and earned the gold medal in oration. McClanahan, a National Honor Society member, earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum lauded at the University of Tulsa, where she studied in both German and Theatre, as well as the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, serving as vice president.

Personal life and death

McClanahan was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 1997, and she was treated with a success.

She was to be honoured at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, California, on November 14, 2009, for her lifetime contributions at Golden: A Gala Tribute to Rue McClanahan. Due to McClanahan's hospitalization, the function was postponed. On November 4, she underwent triple bypass surgery. Entertainment Tonight announced on January 14, 2010 that the actress had suffered from a minor stroke while recovering from surgery. McClanahan was doing well and that her speech had returned to normal in March 2010, according to Betty White of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

McClanahan died at the age of 76 at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital on June 3, 2010, after suffering a brain hemorrhage. Her ashes were given to her family following cremation. McClanahan, according to actress Betty White, was a "close and dear friend."

Morrow Wilson, her sixth husband (from whom she separated in 2009); her son, Mark Bish (of Austin, Texas); and her sister, Melinda Lou McClanahan (of Silver City, New Mexico); and other relatives, including her niece, actress, and author Amelia.

McClanahan's funeral service was held; her family's established a Facebook memorial page; and memorial services were held in New York and Los Angeles during the summer of 2010. Her New York apartment went on auction for $2.25 million on June 10, 2010.

Rue La Rue Cafe, owned by McClanahan's close friend Michael La Rue (who inherited many of the actor's possessions and in turn decorated the restaurant with them), opened in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan's New York City borough of Manhattan in February 2017. However, the cafe closed in November 2017 after less than a year in operation.

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Career

McClanahan, a life member of the Actors Studio, made her debut in the play Inherit the Wind, which was performed in Philadelphia. She appeared off-Broadway in New York City in 1957, but she didn't make her Broadway debut until 1969, when she played Sally Weber in John Sebastian and Murray Schisgal's first performance of John Sebastian and Murray Schisgal's play with music, with Dustin Hoffman in the title role.

Caroline Johnson's appearance on the television show Another World (from July 1970 to September 1971) brought her attention. McClanahan appeared in Another World when she was on another planet, where she played Margaret Jardin.

McClanahan and Vincent Gardenia portray a swinging couple who meet the unsuspecting Bunkers in the 1972 episode of All in the Family. McClanahan appeared on Beatrice Arthur's sitcom Maude (1972–78). Arthur starred Maude Findlay and McClanahan played Vivian Cavender, Maude's best friend who later married Maude's next-door neighbor Dr. Arthur Harmon (played by Conrad Bain).

Since Maude, McClanahan appeared in Apple Pie, a Norman Lear-produced series for her, but it only aired 2 episodes before it was cancelled. McClanahan said in an interview that she did appear in The Baxters pilot episode with Norman Lear, but that she did not want to do the series as a result of it. Given that she is not credited and that no one has been attributed to her anywhere, it is unclear if her appearance was in the true pilot or an unaired pilot. It's also likely that she never finished filming but was just considering it. The Baxters, a script binder, was discovered many years later as part of her personal collection.

Fran Crowley, a young spinster sister on Mama's Family (1983–90), portrayed an uptight spinster sister Fran Crowley to Mama Thelma Harper (Vicki Lawrence). Fran was a journalist for the local paper. Betty White, McClanahan's upcoming Golden Girls costar, was also in the cast. Before the show was cancelled by NBC and then retooled for first run syndication, McClanahan and White appeared on the first two seasons.

Dorothy Zbornak (Beatrice Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo portrayed man-crazed Southern belle Blanche Devereaux, the owner of the house she lived in and rented out to her three roommates and best friends, The Golden Girls (1985–92) and its short-lived successor The Golden Palace (1992–93), and Dorothy Petrillo (Estelle Getty). McClanahan received four Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her appearance on the program, winning the award in 1987.

Patty Duke played the enabling and eventually self-empowered wife of an alcoholic in a 1970s informational film called Slight Drinking Problem. She appeared in The Rotten Apple (1961) and Walk the Angry Beach (1968). In an episode of All in the Family in 1972, Ruth Rempley, the wife of a swinger couple, appeared as Ruth Rempley, the wife of a swinger couple. Out to Sea (1997), she appeared in the Walter Matthau-Jack Lemmon comedy Out to Sea.

On television, she appeared as Matilda Joslyn Gage, mother-in-law of L. Frank Baum, in the made-for-TV film The Dreamer of Oz (1990). She Wrote and Newhart appeared on Murder, She Wrote, and Newhart as a guest star. McClanahan appeared as Margaret Becker in a series of made-for-television films in the early 1990s: Children of the Bride, Baby of the Bride, and Mother of the Bride. In the 1997 Fox Christmas special Annabelle's Wish, she appeared in cartoons, voicing Scarlett. In the Blue's Clues video "Big Treasure Hunt" (1999), she played Steve's grandmother. Anastasia Hardy appeared in the 1994 episode "Doctor Octopus: Armstasia Dangerous" as Spider-Man: The Animated Series. In 1997's Starship Troopers, she served as a biology tutor. "Hair Today, Gone Today" played Bunny in a 2007 episode of King of the Hill. She appeared in a Law & Order episode in 2009 as a woman who had an affair with John F. Kennedy.

In the Neil Simon comedy California Suite from April 4, 1977 to July 2 of the same year, McClanahan replaced Tammy Grimes as "The Visitor from New York" (Hannah Warren).

She appeared in Six Weeks at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami with Mark Hamill in 2003. Polly Bergen had to leave the company but was recalled by Polly Bergen for the Broadway performances. Nancy Stringer, Jr., Beyoncé Knowles, Mike Epps, and Steve Harvey costarred Cuba Gooding, Jr., the same year as her role in the musical romantic comedy film The Fighting Temptations. In the 2005 musical Wicked, she replaced Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible on Broadway. She served for eight months before moving to January 8, 2006. Carol Kane replaced her on January 10, 2006.

My First Five Husbands... and the Ones Who Got Away was published in 2007. At the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards in June 2008, the Golden Girls received the 'Pop Culture' award. Bea Arthur and Betty White, co-stars, accepted the award. McClanahan's last acting appearance was on the cable television show Sordid Lives, which premiered on July 23, 2008, portraying Peggy Ingram.

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