|
 SOAPBOX - RUE MCLANAHAN Gets The Last Word
This warm-hearted and wise Obie and Emmy-winning icon of stage and screen knows what she’s talking about when it comes to living, loving, and lanais
A topic I find interesting is when people ask, “What good is gay? What purpose does it serve?” Well, I think there are two. One is population control—God knows we are out of control as a species. And the other is it enhances life so much. People need to understand that in spirit, we are all one.
All this stuff about gender and race and sexuality has always struck me as so stupid, so useless, so damaging and so unreal. Think about what it would be like if we were all just heterosexual: straight men and straight women. God, without my gay friends, my life would be so much more towards black and white than the wonderful colors it affords me.
I’ve often wondered why gay men are so crazy about Blanche. And you know, I asked that of a gay guy in Greenwich Village one night. He came through the door and screamed, “Blanche! Blanche!!” And I said, “Why does the gay community like Blanche so much?” He said, “Darling, because we all want to be you!” And I thought, Well, now that makes perfect sense.
I always knew the show was going to be a hit, but I never dreamed it was going to go on and on in this kind of afterlife because of the reruns. I mean, they’re everywhere! Just the other night at dinner, our waitress said, “I loved you in Wicked and I never miss The Golden Girls.” And I thought, That’s lovely. That’s refreshing. Because that’s 180 degrees. Blanche was not a mean woman and Madame Morrible was evil through and through, hateful, didn’t like animals—and you know animals are one of my great causes.
The Golden Girls was kind of like Philadelphia of 1776 where all these wonderful elements came together to create a miracle. I’m still friends with everyone, of course. Sadly, you can’t speak to Estelle, really, because she can’t speak back. I only really see Bea when we’re doing a Golden Girls something or other, but Betty and I send each other goofy Christmas presents and silly stuff like that.
I found out as I progressed along in my career that I preferred comedy. I discovered that when I campaigned to get a role that was in a heavy drama about a woman who was dying of a brain tumor. And I realized that going through that agony, well, I didn’t want to do that! I wanted to find the character funny, the show funny and make people laugh. Comedy is much harder to play.
You also want to tackle hard subjects with comedy. I had to do that with my memoir My First Five Husbands…And The Ones Who Got Away. I came up with the title first, then I had to write a book around it! It wasn’t that painful, except in the chapter about my second husband who is the one I betrayed. When I was writing about all the putzes I married who betrayed me, that’s easy and easy to be funny about. But when you’re telling a story about someone you have hurt, it can be very painful. But it was a catharsis for me all the way through writing it.
My first love will always be live theater. Mother didn’t think I had made it until I was on Another World. She had a beauty parlor back home in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and she turned the show on every day. All her customers would watch it with her, and suddenly I’m an actress. It was the first time I had ever gotten a regular, steady paycheck.
My most recent venture is the TV series Sordid Lives. I went out and bought the original movie and watched it. Del Shores is a brilliant writer, so funny, so terribly outrageous. My character Peggy is a good, churchgoing woman. Very conservative and timid, but she’s a firecracker inside. We just don’t know that and neither does she…yet.
It’ll be quite hilarious, but I don’t think that Peggy is going to turn into Blanche. The only thing they have in common is maybe when Peggy turns into a sex fiend—but lots of women have that in common!
Most of all, I’m pleased that my celebrity allows me to make a difference, and I am always extremely proud to work on animal rights projects, especially with PETA—I was the former Pam Anderson!
--
Sordid Lives: The Series premieres on Logo July 23.
|
Instinct Online 
written by Scott Rose on June 03, 2008
First off, I'd like Rue to know that I am not "crazy" about Blanche; I'm crazy about Marlon Brando. I am by contrast completely sane about Blanche and if I ever see her in public I will totally lose my cool and ask her to autograph my underwear. Since she loves animals, I'd like to suggest that she read www.pamperedpuppy.com I once interviewed Ingrid Newkirk for that site. And Rue's right about comedy being hard to play, but won't she do us all a favor by teaching Dick (no pun intended) Cheney to loosen up a little (again no sexual pun intended). In all seriousness, I happen to know that not everyone's agents and PR people will allow them to appear in a homo book so this is hats off three cheers and hooray for Rue for promoting tolerance this way. OK so you all may have figured it out by now; I'm crazy about Blanche.