The inimitable Rue McClanahan died today at age 76 after she suffered a major stroke. McClanahan’s character on Golden Girls (the sitcom ran from 1985-1992), Blanche Devereaux, was not only lovable for her zippy Southern tongue and manner of saunter, but kind of revolutionary. Blanche forced audiences to deal with a very sexual, post-menopausal woman. Sex and the City (barf—more on that later) gets all the cred for dealing with Samathna Jones’ sex after 50 vim as subject matter, but Blanche was picking up (and talking to her three friends about sleeping with) dudes when she was in her 50s back in the 80s!
