It feels like yesterday we were watching Blanche Devereaux sashay across a Miami living room in a silk robe, hunting for her next "gentleman caller." But the reality is much heavier. Rue McClanahan died on June 3, 2010, and honestly, the world of sitcoms hasn't felt quite as sassy since.
She was 76.
People often get the timeline mixed up because the Golden Girls cast stayed in the public eye for so long. When Rue passed, she was actually the third of the four main ladies to leave us. It was a rough few years for fans. Estelle Getty had passed in 2008, and Bea Arthur followed just a year later in 2009. Suddenly, Betty White was the "last woman standing," a title she famously held until her own passing in 2021.
The Final Days of a Legend
Rue didn't just fade away; she fought through a string of scary health scares that most people didn't know about at the time. Back in 1997, she beat breast cancer. She even toured and lectured about it, showing that trademark grit. But the real trouble started toward the end of 2009.
In November of that year, Rue underwent triple bypass heart surgery. It was supposed to be a routine recovery, but things took a sharp turn. Just days after the surgery, while she was still in the hospital, she suffered a minor stroke.
That stroke was a massive blow.
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It messed with her mobility and her speech, which is basically a death sentence for a performer's spirit. But Rue was Rue. She went into intensive physical and speech therapy, working every single day to get back to 90% of her old self. She wanted to do her one-woman show. She wasn't done yet.
The Morning of June 3
The "massive stroke" that finally took her happened on June 3, 2010, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. According to her manager, Barbara Lawrence, Rue had family by her side. She went in peace at 1 a.m.
What’s kind of haunting is that a few days prior, on May 31, she reportedly told friends she just didn't "feel right." She collapsed in her Manhattan apartment while looking out at her garden—a place she had written about in her memoir, My First Five Husbands... And the Ones Who Followed, as the spot where she felt the most at peace.
She never regained consciousness after that collapse.
The Mystery of the Blood Thinner
Here is a detail that gets discussed a lot in fan circles and was even the subject of a Reelz docuseries Autopsy: Rue McClanahan. At the time of her death, Rue was actually taking Warfarin.
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If you aren't familiar, Warfarin is a powerful anticoagulant—a blood thinner. Its entire job is to prevent the kind of clots that cause strokes.
So, how did she have a massive stroke while on the very medication meant to stop it?
Forensic pathologists like Dr. Michael Hunter have pointed out that Rue struggled with severe anxiety and panic attacks. When you have a massive spike in anxiety, your blood pressure can skyrocket. Even on thinners, a sudden, extreme jump in blood pressure can cause a "cerebral hemorrhage" (bleeding in the brain). This is slightly different from an "ischemic stroke" (a blockage), but the result is just as devastating.
Why We Still Talk About Rue
Rue wasn't just Blanche. Before she was the man-hungry Southern belle, she was Vivian on Maude, playing the scatterbrained best friend to Bea Arthur. They had a chemistry that couldn't be faked.
When Rue died, Betty White’s statement really gutted me. She said:
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"Rue was a close and dear friend. I treasure our relationship. It hurts more than I ever thought it would, if that's even possible."
It was a shock because everyone thought Rue was recovering. She had just survived the heart surgery and the first minor stroke. Fans were waiting for her "comeback" moment, but it just never came.
Her Legacy and the "Estate of Rue"
Rue was also a bit of a pack rat—in the best way. She actually had it written into her Golden Girls contract that she got to keep her costumes. After she died, her son Mark Bish and her close friend Michael J. La Rue set up "The Estate of Rue" to auction off her belongings to fans.
They didn't just sell the fancy stuff. They sold her doodles, her jewelry, and even some scripts. She wanted her fans to have a piece of her. Interestingly, she even kept a script that a guest-starring George Clooney had doodled on back in the 80s. She knew a star when she saw one.
Moving Forward: How to Honor Rue
If you’re a fan looking to keep her memory alive, here are a few things you can actually do:
- Watch "The Golden Palace": Most people ignore the one-season spin-off, but Rue is the absolute center of it. She buys a hotel! It’s Blanche at her most ambitious.
- Read her memoir: My First Five Husbands is genuinely funny and gives you a look at the woman behind the accent.
- Support Animal Rights: Rue was a massive advocate for animals. Donating to a local shelter or PETA (an organization she supported) is exactly what she would have wanted.
- Revisit "Maude": See the origin of the Rue/Bea Arthur dynamic. It's different, but just as brilliant.
Rue McClanahan died over a decade ago, but through syndication and streaming, she’s still "the youngest" of the girls in our hearts. She lived a life full of marriages, Emmy awards, and resilience. Next time you see a "Blanche" moment on screen, remember the woman who fought like hell to stay on that stage until the very end.