Call Answered: Rue McClanahan Interview: The Golden Girls' Blanche Devereaux
Sep 06, 2009
Coming 2024 Holiday Season:
Read a behind-the-curtain story as to how this interview came to be in my soon-to-be-released book, Behind The Curtain: The Mistakes, Lessons Learned & Triumphs of Interviewing Celebrities.
Updated 2010:
Rue McClanahan passed away today, June 3, 2010 at the age of 76 after suffering a stroke.
I had been a fan of Rue's since I was a little kid watching her on Mama's Family in the early '80s. When she starred as Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, I simply adored her. I became a big fan of hers. After the show ended, I continued to watch her on The Golden Palace & then her many made-for-TV movies that she starred in along with her guest starring roles on various television shows.
In 2001, I got to meet Rue, live in person, after seeing her in a performance of Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Women on Broadway. She was so nice! We talked for a few moments & she even took a picture with me inside the theatre lobby, which you weren't technically allowed to do.
Below is our original 2009 interview. A special Thank You to Michael J. La Rue for helping make this interview happen. I am forever grateful!
Adam Rothenberg & Rue McClanahan
The Women, Broadway Revival, 2001
Original 2009 Interview:
In this interview, Rue answered my call to reveal:
- Behind-The-Scene's story from The Golden Girls
- Her inspirations
- Best advice
- Who she would dream about
- Strange & Unusual talents
- So much more
1. Who inspired you to become a performer? My Mother, Rheua-Nell McClanahan.
2. When did you realize you wanted to become a performer? I realized I wanted to be a performer when I was five and cast as the Mother Cat in my Kindergarten’s performance of Three Little Kittens. I realized I actually could do it as a profession when I was 12; I figured out that the people I saw in movies were not from Hollywood, they were actually from other towns, even small ones, just like me.
3. Who is the one person you haven't worked with that you would like to? Harrison Ford.
4. Is there ever a time you thought about quitting? Heavens no!
5. What is the best advice a teacher ever gave you? Barney Brown, a man who directed me at The Pasadena Playhouse – and directors are often teachers, at least the good ones – he told me: “You’ll never become great until you’re willing to go out on a limb, much further than you feel comfortable, so far out it is dangerous, and then you learn to pull it back and refine it.
Rue McClanahan with her Emmy Award
6. If you could dream about anyone while you sleep, who would it be? It would be me actually, but only because there is a particular dream I want to experience again. In it, I was floating in the air, conducting a symphony that I had created; and I knew I was in a dream and wouldn't be able to bring the wonderful music from my subconscious out with me. I would love to have that dream again!
7. Favorite kind of shoes? Anything that is really comfortable.
8. Favorite holiday? Christmas.
9. Favorite color? Blue.
10. Favorite kind of sundae (ice cream flavor & topping)? A classic: vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.
Bonus Questions:
11. Do you have any strange or unusual talent that no one knows about? I can write backwards, upside down, and even upside down AND backwards.
12. What is the weirdest thing you've read about yourself and where did you read it? There was an article filled with lies about The Golden Girls' actors in the National Enquirer. Someone gave it to me on the way to the airport and I read that I had narcolepsy; that condition where you just fall asleep out of the blue. It also said that Betty White ate six cheeseburgers a day!
Whoever leaked to the press got it wrong. I have the ability to take naps anywhere, and often did, even behind the couch on the set of The Golden Girls, but I do not suffer from narcolepsy. And Betty White did not eat six cheeseburgers every day, she ate one.
Rue McClanahan
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