Image Credit: Everett CollectionIt’s hard to imagine that originally, producers asked Rue McClanahan to read for the role of Rose on The Golden Girls. They’d wanted Betty White to play Blanche, a part McClanahan knew she was perfect for. Luckily, pilot director Jay Sandrich agreed. “I said to [Rue], ‘You’re really wonderful, but I don’t believe for a second that you’re innocent. Would you read Blanche?’” he told EW in 2005, when the magazine did a 20th anniversary oral history of the show. “Ruesy took Blanche out into orbit where I never would have gone. She flew off like a butterfly with that role,” White said. McClanahan explained how: “I gave [Blanche] the assurance that my sister has always had: Walk into a group of men and just lay ‘em low! I was using this phony accent that sounded like a cross between British and Southern and cornball.”
Today, you can’t turn on the TV without hearing the sound of McClanahan’s voice. Though she’s gone — McClanahan died this morning at age 76, following a massive stroke — she’ll continue to be there. In the morning, when you’re too tired or sick to get out of bed, and at night, when you need a good laugh to clear your mind before you drift off to sleep. Chances are, she’ll be saying something outlandish that costar Bea Arthur probably had to talk her into. “She taught me, by watching her, even back during Maude, to be outrageously courageous as a comedienne, to go out on a limb, to go farther than I’ve ever dreamed of going,” McClanahan told EW last year, when remembering the late Arthur. “Blanche had to say and do things that Rue found difficult. And it would always be Bea who said, ‘Oh say it! It’s funny!’” (Update: WE will air a “WE Remember Rue” marathon of the channel’s favorite Golden Girls episodes centering on Blanche Friday, from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET.)
What’s your favorite Blanche quip? Leave it below, and know that McClanahan knew how much you loved her. Whether you were young: “I got oodles of letters from kids who wanted to move in with us,” she told us in 2005. “My youngest fan was a 3-year-old who stopped me in an elevator. Now, you know that he wasn’t catching on to the double entendres.” Or slightly older: “I’ve got fan mail saying, ‘Thank you for allowing me to act and dress like I feel. Because in those days, when you were over 50, you were supposed to be wearing certain types of clothes and behaving a certain way. Women were writing saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you for the freedom, for the release, for the permission.’”
More Rue McClanahan:
Rue McClanahan dies at 76
Dustin Hoffman, Leslie Jordan, and more remember Rue McClanahan
Rue McClanahan remembers Bea Arthur
‘Golden Girls’ 20th anniversary oral history
Book review: ‘My First Five Husbands…and the Ones Who Got Away’ by Rue McClanahan (2007)
Dorothy: I don’t know what to do.
Blanche: Go out with him!
Rose: Don’t go out with him, Dorothy, he’s married! Keep some self-respect!
Blanche: Self-respect is for losers like Rose!
Oh, anytime Blanche spoke about her “perky bosoms” it was hysterical!!
hahahaha!!!
Rose: Can a woman love two men at the same time?
Blanche: Well set the scene, have we been drinking?
Lesbian, lesbian….LESBIAN!
“In’t Danny Thomas one?”
“That’s LEBANESE, Blanche!”
LOL!! That episode was on last night.
That’s my fav too!!
Thats my favorite episode!
Sophia: Jean is a lesbian.
Blanche: What’s so bad about that?
Sophia: You’re not surprised?
Blanche: Well I haven’t known any personally but ain’t Danny Thomas one?
Dorothy: Not Lebanese, Blanche. Lesbian.
i was just going to post that one lol. such a funny episode and ground breaking
And then to top it off, Blanche is miffed that the lesbian is attracted to Rose and not her!!!! LMAO!
RIP, Rue, we love you!!!!
!yes! I died laughing when she thought she was more WORLDLY than Rose, and why Dorothys girl friend liked her more than her. LOL
I loved the lesbian comment too, Jano. But the one that sticks in my head was when she was talking about some guy, and Blanche said, “He was a perfect ten, if you know what I mean.” I was 12 when I heard that first, and I knew what she meant. It was frackin hysterical.
Yes, Daniel, that was funny but when she was talking about the sweaty farm hand in the tight shirt with muscles bulging, then she forgot what she was talking about… Classic..
LESBIAN was the first thing my brother texted me today when we learned of Rue’s passing. It is THE Blanche classic, her delivery and timing were perfect.
But in that youtube clip above, I loved the scene with Blanche talking about the shoe salesman slipping the shoe on her quivering foot, and then she grabs Sophia “come on old woman, we’re gonna buy some shoes!” too FUNNY
Hahaha, I am so happy lots of others think that was one of the best too, because it was the first that came to my mind!
Im as jumpy as a virgin at a prison rodeo
They were all funny but I’ve always been partial to Blanche! RIP Rue. I always wonder if she was at all like the character she played?…hmmm.
that’s the first one that came to my mind!
HA!
family you can see anytime, but a one night stand only happens one night!
Blanche: I do love the rain so. It reminds me of my first kiss.
Dorothy: Ah, your first kiss was in the rain?
Blanche: No, it was in the shower.
I LOVED that one!
Eat dirt and die, trash.
“He has dipped his toe in the lake known as Blanche”
LOL….yes, that was an excellent show!!
Dorothy: Not Lebanese Blanche, lesbian!
Blanche: Oh, lesbian
Blanche: lesbian?
Blanche: Lesbian!
She delivered that one word three times each with a little more realization…the last time when she gets it floors me.
You left out the best part of this exchange – “Isn’t Danny Thomas one?”
RIP Rue
Blanche: There is a fine line between having a good time and being a wanton slut. I know. My toe has been on that line.
aww, you beat me to it!
Blanche: There is a fine line between having a good time and being a wanton slut. I know. My toe has been on that line.
It’s not so much a quote as a line she said often. It seemed like there were several episodes where, at some point, one of the women would suggest some dessert and another one would lament that they were out of whipped cream. The next two lines were always like this:
Blanche: Oh, no we’re not out, I’ve got a can in my room, on my bedside table. (Blanche heads down the hallway)
Dorothy: DON’T!!!
Blanche: Well I can’t take it back, I paid in advance.
Dorothy: Can’t you get a refund?
Blanche: Well no I paid with nature’s credit card…
Dorothy: You never leave home without it.
“I have too many earrings.”
LOL! Funny how you can picture the scene just from this line.
That was Blanche’s funniest episode!
Blanche: Sophia, by placing this pearl necklace between my bosoms, does it make me look like I’m a sex-starved slut who is in need of a man to bed?
Sophia: Yes.
Blanche: Good, then pearl it is.
Blanche: I am nothing but a disgusting cheap slut.
Rose: Don’t tell me… it’s Blanche.