Rue McClanahan became a television icon playing the sex-crazed on The Golden Girls

 

She was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan on February 21, 1934 in Healdton, Oklahoma. Her mother Dreda was a beautician and her father William was a building contractor. After graduating from high school she attended the University Of Tulsa. Rue began her acting career at Pennsylvania’s Erie Playhouse. In 1958 she got pregnant and married musician Tom Bish. He walked out on her a few weeks before their son Mark was born. Then in 1959 she married Norman Hartweg, an actor she had known since college. During their two year marriage she had an abortion and several affairs. She made her film debut in the 1961 drama The Grass Eater. Rue moved to New York City and would spend most of the 1960s working in the theater. While appearing in The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty she fell in love with actor Peter DeMaio. The couple were married in 1965 but she left him because he was too controlling. She costarred with Dustin Hoffman in the 1969 Broadway show Jimmy Shine. Producer Norman Lear gave her a recurring role in his 1972 sitcom Maude. The show ran for six seasons. On November 6, 1976 she married Gus Fisher, a realtor. They split up in 1979. Rue made guest appearances on numerous on television shows including The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Newhart.