Rue McClanahan ✝

Eddi-Rue McClanahan (February 21, 1934 – June 3, 2010) was an American actress best known for her roles on television as Vivian Harmon on Maude (1972–78), Aunt Fran Crowley on Mama\'s Family (1983–84), and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls (1985–92), for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987.\n', ' Eddi-Rue McClanahan was born in Healdton, Oklahoma, on February 21, 1934. She was the daughter of Dreda Rheua-Nell (née Medaris; 1912 – 1973), a beautician, and William Edwin "Bill" McClanahan (1908 – 1999), a building contractor. Her mother\'s maiden name was a Portuguese or Galician surname variation of Madeiros.\n', ' She was raised Methodist and was of Irish and Choctaw ancestry. Her Choctaw great-grandfather was named Running Hawk according to her autobiography My First Five Husbands... and the Ones Who Got Away (2007). She grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma; she graduated from Ardmore High School, where she acted in school plays and won the gold medal in oration. A National Honor Society member, she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, cum laude, at the University of Tulsa, where she majored in both German and Theatre, and joined the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, serving as vice-president.\n', '