Rue McClanahan

Eddi-Rue McClanahan was born on February 21, 1934, in Healdton, Oklahoma, the daughter of Dreda Rheua-Nell McClanahan, a beautician, and William Edwin McClanahan, a building contractor. Her first name combined her father's middle name, Edwin, and her mother's middle name, Rheua. She eventually stopped using "Eddi" after it was repeatedly mistaken for a male name, an error that once resulted in her receiving a conscription notice. Raised Methodist, McClanahan was of Irish and Choctaw ancestry; her Choctaw great-grandfather was named Running Hawk, a detail she recorded in her 2007 autobiography, My First Five Husbands... and the Ones Who Got Away. Because her father's work required frequent relocation, the family moved often during her childhood. She graduated from Ardmore High School in Ardmore, Oklahoma, where she performed in school plays and won the gold medal in oration. A National Honor Society member, she went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, from the University of Tulsa, where she majored in German and theater and served as vice president of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.

McClanahan made her professional stage debut at Pennsylvania's Erie Playhouse in 1957 in Inherit the Wind and began working off-Broadway in New York City that same year. Her Broadway debut came in 1969, when she portrayed Sally Weber in Jimmy Shine, the original production written by John Sebastian and Murray Schisgal, which starred Dustin Hoffman in the title role. She subsequently replaced Carole Shelley as Hannah Warren, billed as "The Visitor from New York," in Neil Simon's California Suite, joining the production on April 4, 1977, and remaining until it closed on July 2 of that year. In 2001 and 2002, she appeared on Broadway in an all-woman cast of The Women alongside Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Coolidge. Her final Broadway credit came on May 31, 2005, when she replaced Carole Shelley as Madame Morrible in the musical Wicked, a role she held for eight months until January 8, 2006, when she was succeeded by Carol Kane. The database additionally credits McClanahan with starring in The Old Women during her Broadway career, which spanned from 1968 to 2003.

On television, McClanahan first gained wider attention playing Caroline Johnson on the daytime serial Another World from July 23, 1970, to September 20, 1971, after which she joined the CBS soap opera Where the Heart Is as Margaret Jardin. She became a life member of the Actors Studio and built a substantial career in television sitcoms. Her most prominent early role was Vivian Harmon on Maude, which ran from 1972 to 1978, where she played the best friend of Maude Findlay, portrayed by Bea Arthur. The character was introduced as Vivian Cavender and later married Maude's neighbor Dr. Arthur Harmon, played by Conrad Bain. During the first two seasons of Mama's Family in 1983 and 1984, McClanahan played Aunt Fran Crowley, an uptight spinster and local journalist, appearing alongside future Golden Girls costar Betty White before NBC canceled the series.

McClanahan's most celebrated television role was Blanche Devereaux, the man-crazed Southern belle she portrayed on The Golden Girls from 1985 to 1992 and its spin-off The Golden Palace from 1992 to 1993. Blanche owned the house she shared with Dorothy Zbornak, played by Arthur, Rose Nylund, played by White, and Sophia Petrillo, played by Estelle Getty. For this performance, McClanahan received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, winning the award in 1987, and was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards in the same category.

Beyond her stage and sitcom work, McClanahan appeared in feature films including The Rotten Apple in 1961, Walk the Angry Beach in 1968, and the Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon comedy Out to Sea in 1997. She played a biology teacher in Starship Troopers in 1997 and appeared in the musical romantic comedy The Fighting Temptations in 2003, which costarred Cuba Gooding Jr., Beyoncé Knowles, Mike Epps, and Steve Harvey. Her television work extended to guest appearances on Murder, She Wrote, Charles in Charge, and Newhart, as well as game shows including The $10,000 Pyramid, Hollywood Squares, and Tattletales. She portrayed Matilda Joslyn Gage in the 1990 television film The Dreamer of Oz and appeared in a trilogy of television films in the early 1990s — Children of the Bride, Baby of the Bride, and Mother of the Bride — as Margaret Becker. Her voice work included Scarlett the horse in the 1997 Fox special Annabelle's Wish, Steve's grandmother in the Blue's Clues video Blue's Big Treasure Hunt in 1999, Anastasia Hardy in a 1994 episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, and Bunny in a 2007 episode of King of the Hill. In 2009, she appeared in an episode of Law & Order as a woman who had an affair with John F. Kennedy. Her final acting role was Peggy Ingram in the cable series Sordid Lives on the Logo network, which premiered on July 23, 2008.

McClanahan published her autobiography, My First Five Husbands... and the Ones Who Got Away, in 2007. An animal rights advocate and vegetarian, she was among the first celebrity supporters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and also supported Alley Cat Allies, appearing in a public service announcement for the organization in early 2010. She was a vocal supporter of gay rights, including same-sex marriage, and in January 2009 participated in Defying Inequality: The Broadway Concert — A Celebrity Benefit for Equal Rights. McClanahan died on June 3, 2010.