Rue McClanahan

Credit: Walter McBride/Retna

Rue McClanahan's Death Shocked Loved Ones

Originally posted 06/05/2010 11:00AM

Rue McClanahan's death from a massive stroke this week may have shocked Golden Girls and Maude fans around the globe, but nobody was more stunned at losing such a fighter than the actress's manager, Barbara Lawrence.

"She was doing absolutely, incredibly well," Lawrence tells PEOPLE. "This blindsided us, just blindsided us."

In November, McClanahan, 76, underwent bypass surgery only to suffer a stroke a week later. "But Rue's a fighter," Lawrence says. "She was getting better and never lost any of her mental awareness whatsoever. She had a little paralysis in he right hand and her speech was a little impaired, but she was amazing."

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Filed Under: Tributes, The Golden Girls, Rue McClanahan

Credit: Giulio Marcocchi/Sipa

UpdatePosted 06/03/2010 02:50PM

Betty White: Rue McClanahan's Death 'Hurts More Than I Ever Thought'

Originally posted 06/03/2010 02:15PM

She's now the last living Golden Girl. For Betty White the loss of her costar Rue McClanahan struck hard.

"Rue was a close and dear friend. I treasure our relationship," White, 88, said in a statement. "It hurts more than I ever thought it would, if that's even possible."

McClanahan died early Thursday at age 76 after suffering a stroke, following the deaths of costars Bea Arthur last year at age 86 and Estelle Getty in 2008 at age 84 .

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Filed Under: Tributes, Betty White, Rue McClanahan

Credit: Walter McBride/Retna

UpdatePosted 06/03/2010 01:00PM

Golden Girls Star Rue McClanahan Dies at 76

Originally posted 06/03/2010 11:15AM

Golden Girl Rue McClanahan has died at the age of 76.

"She passed away at 1 a.m. this morning," her manager, Barbara Lawrence, tells PEOPLE. "She had a massive stroke."

McClanahan, who played man-happy Blanche Devereaux on the still-popular '80s sitcom Golden Girls, had suffered a minor stroke earlier this year while recovering from bypass surgery. Lawrence adds that at the time of her death Thursday, McClanahan "had her family with her. She went in peace."

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Filed Under: Tributes, Rue McClanahan

Betty White, Rue McClanahan Recall 'Shy' Bea Arthur

Originally posted 04/27/2009 08:55AM

Despite her booming voice and boisterous personality – "Let's face it," the 5'9" leading lady once quipped, "nobody ever asked me to play Juliet" – Beatrice Arthur was very private, sensitive, even shy, her two surviving Golden Girls costars, Betty White and Rue McClanahan, affectionately recalled Monday morning.

Speaking over the phone on the Today show about their late friend and professional colleague – Arthur, 86, died early Saturday morning at her home in Los Angeles after a lengthy battle with cancer – both expressed their amazement when Arthur headlined her own, autobiographical one-woman show, 2002's Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends.