Eddi-Rue McClanahan made her acting debut as a precocious 4 year old in a hometown production of The Three Little Kittens. Offered dance scholarships, Rue McClanahan opted to pursue a career in drama, which led to roles on and Off Broadway and a successful television acting career. After appearances in All in the Family and Maude, McClanahan hit her stride as the irreverent Southern belle Blanche Devereaux in the long-running hit series Golden Girls—a role for which she won an outstanding lead actress Emmy in 1987. Married six times, Rue McClanahan wrote the 2007 autobiography, My First Five Husbands ... and the Ones Who Got Away. A breast cancer survivor, Rue McClanahan died at age 76 of a brain hemorrhage in New York City.