Rue McClanahan
Actress
About This Interview
Rue McClanahan was interviewed for two-and-a-half hours in New York, NY. McClanahan talked about her acting start on the stage and touched on some of her feature films from the 1960s. She discussed her first regular role in television as scheming nurse "Caroline Johnson" on Another World. She recalled how, when her character tries unsuccessfully to poison the mother of the twins she is caring for, she received a fan letter recommending a better poison. She spoke in great detail about her role as "Vivian Cavender" best friend to Bea Arthur on the television sitcom Maude. She described her character, talked about working with the ensemble cast, and commented on memorable series episodes. She then talked about her work as series regular "Aunt Fran" on Mama's Family. Lastly she discussed at length the production of the classic 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls and her role of "Blanche Devereaux." She talked about the casting process, working with the series production personnel, and the transition of the show into The Golden Palace . The interview was conducted by Jim Colucci on May 4, 2006.
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Video: Embeddable excerpt from Rue McClanahan's Archive of American Television Interview (click through to You Tube to reveal the embed code)
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Highlights
Rue McClanahan on the switch to her playing "Blanche" on The Golden Girls (the role originally intended for Betty White)
Clip begins at: 02:48, Duration: 00m 52s
Rue McClanahan on guest starring on the All in the Family episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers" (airdate: October 28, 1972)
Clip begins at: 04:41, Duration: 03m 22s- Rue McClanahan on her favorite Maude episode "Feminine Fulfillment" (McClanahan refers to the episode as "The Man from Glad") (airdate: February 28, 1977)
Clip begins at: 21:17, Duration: 02m 28s - Rue McClanahan on the controversial episode of Maude , "Maude's Dilemma"
Clip begins at: 01:23 - Rue McClanahan on convincing Bea Arthur to be in The Golden Girls, and how the casting then fell into place
Clip begins at: 03:46, Duration: 00m 54s
Interview
- Part 1
- On her early years and interest in the theatre; on joining Another World
Clip begins at: 0:0 - Part 2
- On being fired from Another World
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On her guest appearances on All in the Family
Clip begins at: 02:52 - On co-starring in Maude
Clip begins at: 08:21 - Part 3
- On co-starring on Maude (cont.)
Clip begins at: 0:0 - On co-starring on Mama's Family
Clip begins at: 23:38 - Part 4
- On starring in The Golden Girls
Clip begins at: 0:0 - Part 5
- On the end of The Golden Girls; on her then-recent projects
Clip begins at: 0:0
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Never to be forgotten. Forever will be loved. Tary
She is nothing like Blanche Devereaux which shows what a brilliant actor and comedian she was.
Heh
There somebody at my door in a high pitched voice :D
She does look younger :D
No, Maude stands up far better than GG, sorry lovelyjoints.
I interviewed Rue back in 1998 and found her very touchy and disagreeable, more so than she is in this interview. But she can tell a good story!
Not that it matters but she misspoke about Ardmore being 60 miles EAST of Durant, OK. It's actually WEST but then how many people know that area, anyway!!
@7bcg I found nothing wrong with the interviewer. I am assuming Rue was just having a bad day and it must have been a rough one since she dissed so many people in this interview and overall just came across very negative.
@adeniseb She was acting that way because he kept asking questions that ran on forever and by the time he was done asking it, she would have to ask what was the question again.
@storrs19 - Maude doesn't stand up I'm afraid. The Golden Girls does.
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