“No hokum, nothing but truth.”
So wrote Edith Oliver on Rue McClanahan’s performance in the 1969 production of Who’s Happy Now?
Rue McClanahan died this past week at the age of 76. Betty White is now the sole surviving “Golden Girl”.
Rue McClanahan on Broadway with Dustin Hoffman in “Jimmy Shine”
There always was something about McClanahan, whose razor-sharp comic timing and brilliant character work as “Blanche”, on Golden Girls, her most memorable role, that suggested that: There was no hokum there, nothing but truth. It’s one of the reasons why she was so funny. Why that show was (and still is) so damn funny. It’s like watching four expert athletes compete at the same time. There was no dead weight. The writing is still surprising, still fresh, and if you haven’t seen the show (first of all, if that’s true, do you live in Chad or something?) and you have some conception that it’s about four sweet little old ladies, think again. Golden Girls had the dirtiest mind in television (there’s one example of the dialogue in the NY Times obit which is a great example), and much of it was done in innuendo, and slam-dunk pauses, which would unleash pictures of the most filthy kind floating through the audience’s head. These women are all comic geniuses, and I do not use that term lightly. All Bea Arthur had to do was look at someone, and her reaction shots are 100% funny 100% of the time. Stuff like this cannot be created in the editing room, it has to exist already. It’s a great example of an ensemble piece, and watching them all spar and joke and create … with such a sense of fun and specificity – is still a joy.
Rue McClanahan (like all the other actresses on the show) had a long and successful career, on Broadway and elsewhere, before finally hitting the big time (in terms of fame and recognition, yes, but also in terms of salary and residuals, which had to be through the roof), with Golden Girls. The show was a huge hit, and is still on eternal loop in syndication and will be for the foreseeable future.
Tennessee Williams sent Rue McClanahan a note, after seeing her as Caitlin Thomas, Dylan Thomas’s wife, in a production of Dylan. Willians wrote: “Your work is that rare combination of earthiness and lapidary polish, that quality being utterly common and utterly noble. Frippery combined with fierceness.â McClanahan wrote in her autobiography My First Five Husbands..And the Ones Who Got Away
Utterly common and utterly noble.
No hokum. Nothing but truth.
It was true throughout her career.
Rest in peace, Rue McClanahan.
Fun interview with Rue McClanahan about how she got the part of Blanche on Golden Girls:
It’s weird because I was thinking about Blanche Devereauz randomly last week. She was a great character, and I still sometimes reference her, even if only to myself.
Beth – Yes, great character!
Just a month ago had a long conversation with my friend Meghan about Rue McClanahan and her autobiography – which I have yet to read. I’ve always just loved her.