Emmy Award-winning actress Rue McClanahan was born on February 21, 1934 in Healdton, Oklahoma. A graduate of Ardmore High School, she started out with onstage roles in New York in the late 50s, but became known for her television work. Among the numerous TV shows she’s worked on are Burke’s Law, Maude, Trapper John, M.D., Murder, She Wrote, Murphy Brown, and Touched by an Angel. She’s also appeared in the films The Rotten Apple, They Might Be Giants, Out to Sea, Starship Troopers, and The Fighting Temptations. She’s also a lifelong vegetarian and advocate of animal rights, and a survivor of breast cancer. One of her most recent projects is the Broadway musical Wicked, wherein she plays Madame Morrible.
Blanche Devereaux is portrayed by Rue McClanahan in the television comedy The Golden Girls. A standoffish and vain Southern belle, she revels in listing down her numerous lovers and sharing stories of unlikely romantic adventures. Blanche grew up in Atlanta, Georgia with a Southern family, though her father slept around constantly (even with Blanche’s childhood friend and with Blanche’s nanny) while her siblings were concerned with their own outlandish problems. These included her spoiled younger sister Virginia and her gay younger brother Clayton. Blanche also had to deal with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization for Southern women.
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