And then there was one. Golden gal Rue McClanahan passed away from a major stroke early this morning surrounded by her family, sad news that comes after she suffered a stroke earlier in the year after bypass surgery. You’re already playing the theme music in your head, aren’t you? [People]
deaths
Rue McClanahan Dies at 76
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Frank
Thank you for being a friend…
edrick
oh my god she was my idol. i am in tears right now. oh my goodness the beat is in my head. ” Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true your a pal and a confidant.
And if you through a party
Invited everyone you ever knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say thank you for being a friend.”
Oh my god i cant believe that she is dead rest in peace Rue Mclanahan. Rest in peace blanche and have a great time. I love you.
Fitz
A well-spent life. We should all do such good work and leave behind such good memories.
Menlo
Oh crap.
Bob
Another star in heaven…
Thank you for being a friend, Rue….we love you and will miss you so!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
The episode of Ellen where Betty White was on was on just yesterday. Betty was telling how well Rue was doing and she was looking forward to getting back to work. Rue was great on Sorrid Lives………..
All four of those Golden Ladies were great friends of the Gays…….I can remember once upon a time at a pride fest in NYC and as we were dancing suddenly we realized we were listening to a club mix of “Thank you For Being a Friend” was dancing with my bestest friend and we were both in tears as we were dancing……..
*So Sad*……………….
asa1973
I can’t believe Ms. White is the only treasure from that great sitcom that we have left in the world. Have a glass of iced tea on that sweet lanai in the sky for us, Blanche. Tell Dorothy and Sophia we said “hello.”
Jason
My only happy memory of my childhood is when my mom and I used to watch Golden Girls.
Blanche was the slut and I knew that when I grew up I wanted to be just like her.
God bless and God rest.
Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com
Unfortunately, it was so poorly produced that few remember she also played the Mother of Leonard Matlovich in the 1978 NBC dramatization of his fight to stay in the Air Force, the first TV movie about a living gay person. He visited the set once and said she was very sweet.
[img]http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f5/Matlovich_time_cover.jpg/220px-Matlovich_time_cover.jpg[/img]
I can kinda get why, way back then, they didn’t want to offend straight America by being too political, but Brad Dourif is a great enough actor he could have captured Leonard’s dynamic personality but instead was so badly directed he appeared narcotized.
The trailer pretty reflect its poor quality:
http://videodetective.com/titledetails.aspx?publishedid=2289
christopher di spirito
Peace and happy travels wherever this journey takes you, Rue.
You were the best and you will be missed.
AlwaysGay
Good-bye. I love the Golden Girls. All four brought life to good writing.
dvlaries
Now I don’t feel like doing anything else today. [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/dvlaries/emoticons/cry6.gif[/img]
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Am I on some kind of bizarro Queerty St.?????? 12 posts so far and none of the BQs have spewed anything! Everyone is only showin’ the luv for Rue…………*Still so very sad*
Bob
I dare anyone to say anything bad about this wonderful lady….god bless her!
Daddy Grace Fish Sandwich
I didn’t have a favorite Golden Girl because I liked all 4 of the girls. Sophia left us in 2008, then Dorothy in 2009, and now Blanche in 2010. I hope the 3 girls are carrying on in heaven and saving a place for Rose. Rest in peace my girls, you live in my heart daily on television.
Rob
Only cheesecake can pull me out of the sadness.
j
I’ll get the ice cream….
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
“Rue was a close and dear friend. I treasure our relationship, It hurts more than I ever thought it would, if that’s even possible.”
Betty White on Blanche’s passing……….*Sigh*
Daddy Grace Fish Sandwich
Don’t forget the whip cream in Blanche’s bedroom.
Devon
Loved her on Golden Girls…Loved her in Wicked…
Very sad.
ewe
Here’s to all bubbly people. I really liked her.
dvlaries
Although the show had at least two different actors play Big Daddy, it was unerringly true in depictng Blanche’s strained relationships with her grown children. Unlike many a lazy sitcom, too, there were no quick fixes and Blanche had to continually work it. I liked that about the show.
I just looked them up again, and no wonder it hurts so much: Estelle in July ’08, Bea in April ’09, and now Rue. Three out of four of them in less than two years. And not even a full month after Betty’s triumph on Saturday Night Live.
Just sad. [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/dvlaries/emoticons/ghug.gif[/img]
tjr101
It’s like she was a part of my life growing up. Blanche was my favorite character and I love her so. RIP.
Philip
Many moons ago, it was de rigueur for everyone I knew to meet at the bar to watch Golden Girls.
That ensemble cast brought many a laugh to my friends and me; however, Blanche always seemed to steal the show.
Well done, good lady.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
How bouts the show embracing the Gays? They dealt with Blanche’s freaking out when she learned her Brother was Gay, and then her tender acceptance of him…….The episode where Dorothey’s Gay lady friend developed a crush on Rose was classic…..“Shes Lebanese??” ~ Priceless
Rob
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS: Blanche: Well there -must- be homosexuals who date women! Sophia: Yeah, they’re called lesbians.
Lanjier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvJl382Z4YA&feature=related
jason
Can you believe it’s 25 years since Golden Girls started airing? Where has the time gone? It’s gone in a flash. Thank goodness we have the memories and the dvd’s.
Rue will be missed by all. Vale, darling.
Chuy
Rue you were a true doll!
ossurworld
Rue worked so well with Bea Arthur on Maude that they teamed up again in Golden Girls. Now they can team up forever.
jason
Do you remember the Grab That Dough episode? The girls had to rush to Hollywood to appear on this game show. They took a night flight and got to the hotel, only to find that their room had been given to someone else owing to their late arrival.
The girls tried to convince the snooty desk clerk to give them something – anything. When it was Blanche’s turn, she steadied herself and, without so much as a blink, exclaimed “But I am Miss Angie Dickinson”.
We’ll miss you, Rue.
Bobby
So…when do we start ripping on her physical appearance, eh?
The wrinkles, the fading hair, oh my! My queer genes are just shrieking!
I mean she’s old, and obviously aged-but that’s no excuse!. So what if she’s dead-it shouldn’t matter. It shouldn’t matter if someone’s dead or alive…it’s not being remotely decent people matters, right?
Because I find it ironic that when Queerty plasters Madonna or any other 45+ year old women, the gays show up to gasp and gawk at (just one out of literally thousands of) photos of aging women (a gender they know nothing about) and sneer and scream about the slightest age line or perceived imperfection.
I just think it’s rather pathetic someone’s got to die before we express some goddamn courtesy.
Sarcasm aside, I loved Rue. My mother knew I was gay when I stayed inside the house to watch The Golden Girls before Full House. I never wanted Michelle Tanner; I wanted to hear about Blanche’s sexual escapades up and down the east coast. RIP beautiful.
ewe
@Michael @ LeonardMatlovich.com: Thank you for that trailer. There is a great article about him in the SFGN. http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/
jeffree
Now there is one….My heart goes out to Ms. Betty White, who has had to bid farewell to three sassy gals whose characters made so many of us laugh. And think.
It broke so many of the sitcom conventions: not every issue was wrapped up in an episode, older womens’ sexuality was discussed and the gayz & lezbians were never far from the plot line.
I saw the show in reruns but i “knew” that those ladies’ characters wouldve made me brunch if i’d showed up at their (fictional) door after yet another one of my nasty break ups .
Hate to say it kind of, but the ladies on Sex and The City wouldnt have cared a whit. [that’s how I compared the shows then.)
@PLAYS WELL WITH MANY OTHERS: Yeesh dude, you made me go on a crying jag at work! Twice.
OnCloud9
Who is she?
Joey O'H
Another Golden Girl in Heaven. Oh Rue, you will be missed. There’s no one like you Blanche!
Marcello
I have moved here last year, I didnt know about the show before, even though where I come from (Argentina)we get all of the shows,I started watching it since We.tv put it on again when Bea pass away last year, and It has became a part of my life and my history. Love them so much and they’ll never die.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@jeffree: I sorry! 🙂
And who’s turn was it to watch the child????? Someone was neglectful and the little bastard went wild hitting the thumbs down on all the posts…………..
Robert, NYC
We’ve lost a valuable friend of the Gay community. Rest in peace, Rue, you will be sorely missed.
jeffree
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS: i have seen those cyberthumbprints on other posts. I think that one of the perp’s screennames ends in a digit between 8 and 10.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@jeffree: It all adds up :-p
Ken S
So now Betty White is like the Highlander of the Golden Girls. It’s sad, but there can be only one.
Forrest
Youtube’s GoingGoldenAgain channel. All the seaons all the episodes whenever you get the GG urge.
You can fuck me later.
Rocketguy
The Golden Girls are icons and the show has stood the test of time and gets better and better every time I watch it (from Gay’s Gay brother and his marriage ceremony) to Dorothy’s best friend Pat being in love with Rose and Blanche being upset she wasn’t the object of Pat’s affections!
Or the discussion of HIV (remember Sophia looking after a small boy at the hospital who had AIDS at a time when Ronald Reagan wouldn’t even say the word!! or when Blanche thought she had AIDs from a blood transfusion to the discussion of safe sex practices by using condoms (the drug store scene when the girls were going on a cruise and Blanche suggested they get condoms) to treating growing old as something that didn’t have to be or the first few episodes where they had a Gay room mate to discussion of sex, men, love, and every topic never discussed in comedies, never mind drama…The show was way ahead of its time and still is and what great GLBT spokespersons all the Golden Girls were for us in real life..
I attended a rally for Senator Lautenberg in NJ at a Gay bar in 2002 and Rue was there to stand up for GLBT rights and when she was introduced we gave her at least a 5 minutes or longer standing ovation and she was just amazing when she spoke. It still brings tears to my eyes!!
I have to agree that the Golden Girls is a class by itself……They are our family and we are so blessed to count them as amazing Gay Icons and wonderful wonderful human beings…I know that Bea and Rue and Estelle are all having a blast shaking up Heaven and watching over all us as our special Gay Angels!! I will miss Rue but she is always in my heart with all the Golden Girls…Thank you for being my friends!! Thank you for being all off our Gay friends and standing up for us always and back in the 1980s when it wasn’t fashionable to do so they advanced the cause of Gay rights and AIDS activism when so would!!
Hyhybt
Everybody thinks of her from “Golden Girls,” but when I read of her death the thing that came to mind most was the way they killed her off on “Mama’s Family.”
Three of the four down, 2008, 9, and 10… one per calendar year. Hopefully it won’t be four for four.
Chitown Kev
@Hyhybt:
Funny you bring that up, because part of the genius of Golden Girls was this:
Remember that on the Mary Tyler Moore show and on Mama’s Family, Betty White played the character that…well, she wasn’t a slut but she was a total bitch.
McClanahan was typecast as the ditz on Maude and on Mama’s Family.
So part of the reason for the success of GG, at least to me, was that Golden Girls turned the typecasting of Betty White and Rue McClanahan on it’s head.
RIP, Rue McClanahan. A life well lived.
hyhybt
@Chitown Kev: Yeah, but they didn’t shove a toothpick up her nose 🙂
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Rocketguy: Excellent post! you might say it “rocked”……… :-p
Jesse Helms
It sounds like Miss Thang was a fag hag.
Bisexual Vampire
@Jesse, how dare you talk about Blanche like that, you old dead corpse.
Joanaroo
Hi! I was really shocked to hear that Rue McClanahan died. I knew she had breast cancer but was unaware she had a stroke in Nov. 2009. It was I suppose a precursor of the one that took her life. The Golden Girls was my favorite show in the 80s and early 90s. RIP Bea, Estelle and Rue! May we have Betty to keep us laughing for a long time!
Black Hispanic
Is there going to be a funeral for Rue aka Blanche? I’ve haven’t heard much about her death on Entertainment Tonight, but they are still cover Gary Coleman. Gary Coleman had acted in years and he was a nobody. Rue McClanahan lives on daily on the Golden Girls on the Hallmark and WE Cable channels. I will miss Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia. I cry myself to sleep sometimes thinking about the racism against people with black skin and nappy hair. Thinking about the Golden Girls makes me laugh and feel good about life.