Rue McClanahan Biography

Fast Facts

• A longtime animal rights activist, she was one of the first celebrities to endorse PETA when it first came to be in 1980
• Graduated from the University of Tulsa, where she was also a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority
• Is of Native American ancestry, as her great-grandfather was a Choctaw Indian
• Despite successfully beating a breast cancer diagnosis in 1997, she would eventually pass away in 2010 at age 76 following heart surgery and a minor stroke
• Quote: "People always ask me if I'm like Blanche․ And I say, 'Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta -- and I'm not from Atlanta!'"
• After a six-year stint on "Maude", she would once again reunite with co-star Bea Arthur in "The Golden Girls" for another seven years
• Started her career on stage, making her Broadway debut in 1969, before being discovered by Norman Lear who convinced her to try a career in Hollywood
• Kept every article of clothing from her "Golden Girls" wardrobe