Thank you for being a friend
I wore one of my favorite T-shirts Tuesday. This one:
I also went to the doctor Tuesday and one of the lab techs had this to say about my shirt: “Golden Girls! Why you wearing a Golden Girls, shirt? Ain’t they all dead?”
She’s very tactful, no?
I quickly informed her that Rue McClanahan and Betty White were not deceased and that White even hosted “Saturday Night Live” recently. She was not impressed.
Moments ago I learned we fans must say goodbye to another one of our girls. McClanahan died this morning of a massive stroke at New York Presbyterian Hospital. She was 76.
The New York Daily News reports that the Oklahoma native had been in shaky health. She suffered a minor stroke earlier this year, while recovering from bypass surgery.
McClanahan had undergone treatment for breast cancer in 1997 and later lectured to cancer support groups on “aging gracefully,” the Associated Press reports.
McClanahan launched her acting career in New York in 1957 and made her Broadway debut in 1969 in the musical “Jimmy Shine,” which starred Dustin Hoffman. She was tapped for TV in the 1970s for the key best-friend character on the hit series “Maude,” starring Beatrice Arthur. After that series ended in 1978, McClanahan landed the role as Aunt Fran on “Mama’s Family” in 1983.
Then came “The Golden Girls” and McClanahan stole our hearts as the man hungry Southern belle Blanche Deveraux.
McClanahan’s real love life was just as juicy as her TV romances. She was married six times and recounted her amorous adventures in her 2007 autobiography, My First Five Husbands.
McClanahan’s death leaves White as the last surviving member of “The Golden Girls.” Last year, Beatrice Arthur, whom we knew and loved as Dorothy, died from cancer. Estelle Getty, who played Dorothy’s wise-cracking mother, died in 2008.
“The Golden Girls,” which ran on NBC from 1985 to 1992, remains in syndication. In fact, my husband and I watch an episode nearly every night before bed. Because of this amazing, irreplaceable show, McClanahan, Arthur, and Getty will never be forgotten.
I always loved that show.
Oh no!!!
Not Lebanese, Blanche, lesbian!
Man, I’ll miss that lady.
Monday to Friday from five to six pm I watch 2 episodes of the Golden Girls and I laugh and relax. I didn’t even realize I was doing it with such regularity until my 4 year old son started singing the theme song. I am going to miss Blanche.