'Golden Girls' Rue McClanahan gone but will live on

Rue McClanahan, who played the amorous and always game aging Southern seductress Blanche Deveraux in  the much beloved '80s sitcom, "The Golden Girls" died Thursday (June 3) of a stroke. She had had open heart surgery last year.

The Dish Rag fondly recalls her 2004 appearance at a book signing at A Different Light, a gay bookstore in West Hollywood. where the line was literally down the block to meet her.

McClanahan's autobiography was titled "My First Five Husbands and the Ones Who Got Away." Two hundred fans crowded the store, holding books, DVDs, and t-shirts to be signed (shirts on sale read, "Thank You For Being a Friend").
 
Rue answered just a few questions before she began signing.

How long has she been with her current husband? "Ten years this Christmas," she said. "He's lasted longer than any of the others."

Had she ever seen "The Q Guide to The Golden Girls"--a book about the show and it's impact on gay culture. "No I haven't. Is it naughty?"

According to McClanahan's book, "The Golden Girls" is playing somewhere in the world every hour of every day. 

Full disclosure: The Dish Rag has "Golden Girls" on permanent Tivo and nothing cheers us up like a few episodes a week.

Rue, Bea Arthur, Estelle Getty and the seemingly unstoppable Betty White (who just hosted "Saturday Night Live" and is working on a new TV Land original series, "Hot in Cleveland") will never get old.  And they will live on forever in our hearts and on our TVs.

Follow Zap2it on Twitter and Zap2it on Facebook for the latest TV, movie and celebrity news.

Photo Credit: NBC