Troubling news to pass along today … Rue McClanahan, one of the amazing Golden Girls, has been forced to pull out of an event to honor her in San Francisco, CA next week due to a medical condition. It turns out that Rue’s doctor has ordered her hospitalization after suffering “acute cardiac illness”:

The Golden Girls actress Rue McClanahan has been hospitalised after suffering from acute cardiac illness. The news means that an event honoring the Emmy Award-winning actress has been canceled. According to Advocate.com, Golden: A Gala Tribute to Rue McClanahan was to take place on 14 November at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. “My darlings, I’m just devastated that I am going to have to miss my own tribute at the Castro Theatre,” she said in a statement on Wednesday from her hospital room. “Unfortunately, my doctor has laid down the law, and I’m currently having some maintenance on the old ticker. Trust me, I’d much rather be in San Francisco having fun and being adored by all of you.” Gala organizer Marc Huestis wished McClanahan a speedy recovery and suggested that the event may be postponed to a later date.

While this news is very upsetting, I take comfort in the fact that Rue McClanahan is a tough woman … her statement gives me hope that she will pull thru this heart thing with flying colors and will be well enough to be honored in San Francisco as she rightly deserves to be. I hope all y’all will join me in sending our best, most heartfelt well-wishes to Rue on a speedy recovery! Get better soon, Rue! We all love you very, very much!!!

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On Saturday we learned the incredibly sad news that famed actress of the stage and small screen Bea Arthur, prolly most remembered for her role as Dorothy Zbornak on the beloved TV series The Golden Girls but also for her ground-breaking role in the 1970’s as Maude on both All In The Family and her own series Maude, passed away at the age of 86 after losing her battle with cancer. Bea’s surviving co-stars Betty White and Rue McClanahan have since paid tribute to Bea in interviews and official statements. Betty issued a statement, which you can read in full here, and Rue spoke fondly of Bea in an interview with Entertainment Weekly and on The Today Show. Here are a couple photos of Bea, Betty and Rue all together at The TVLand Awards last year where the ladies accepted a pop culture award on behalf of The Golden Girls (Estelle Getty was still alive at this time last year but was too ill to attend the award show):

Here is the full text of Betty White’s statement on Bea’s passing:

“I knew it would hurt, I just didn’t know it would hurt this much.. I’m so happy that she received her Lifetime Achievement Award while she was still with us, so she could appreciate that. She was such a big part of my life.”

Here is a portion of Rue McClanahan’s interview about Bea with Entertainment Weekly:

What did you learn about acting from Bea Arthur?
What I got attached to, as an actress, was her impeccable timing. And I loved playing scenes with her. She taught me, by watching her, even back during Maude, to be outrageously courageous as a comedienne, to go out on a limb, to go farther than I’ve ever dreamed of going. [On The Golden Girls], Blanche had to say and do things that Rue found difficult. And it would always be Bea who said [deepens voice to perfectly imitate Arthur] “Oh say it! It’s funny!”

What was Bea’s lasting contribution to TV history?
What’s any great star’s lasting contribution? What’s Lucille Ball’s? I don’t know how to put answers like that into words. I suppose perhaps the thing she did the best and the most of was make people laugh.

Bea Arthur was truly an amazing woman. It will forever be one of my great regrets to have never met her in person. I remember when she did her one-woman Broadway show back in 2001 … I was not yet able to travel to NYC whenever I liked so I was not able to see her show live. It just pains me know to think that I missed out on a golden opportunity to see this genius comedic actress live on stage. Thankfully, we have reruns of The Golden Girls to remind us for all time what a truly special woman she was. After the jump, check out video of Rue McClanahan being interviewed on The Today Show …

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Birthday lurve and wishes goes out today to everyone’s favorite saucy and oversexed Golden Girl Rue McClanahan who turns a beautiful 74 years young today:

It is a very happy day when one of our beloved Golden Girls is able to celebrate another year of life and I’m sure Rue is just the type of gal to do some pretty serious celebratin’. Everyone has their favorite Golden Girl and while I am not one to play favorites, I gotta say that Rue’s Blanche Devereaux is an iconic television character that will live on for all time. After giving us many, many years of laughter I think it is only fitting that we pause to send her all of our love and admiration on her birthday today. Have a very Happy Birthday, Rue! Here’s to many, many more!!

PS: The Hallmark Channel will be the new TV home for reruns of The Golden Girls staring March 1 and to celebrate, the network will be airing an 18-hour marathon beginning at 8:30AM that day … make sure y’all tune in to get your GG fix!

Rue McClanahan, who played the sexpot Blanche Devereaux, has released a statement about the passing of her Golden Girls co-star Estelle Getty (who played Sophia Petrillo) following released statements from both Bea Arthur and Betty White (who played Dorothy Zbornak and Rose Nylund respectively). You may sadly recall that Estelle passed away yesterday morning at the age of 84:

“Estelle always wanted to be an actress and she achieved that goal beyond her dreams. Don’t feel sad about her passing, she will always be with us in her crowning achievement.”

I understand where Rue’s sentiments are coming from but it’s hard not to be sad … it kinda feels like losing a grandmother. At the same time, it’s easy to want to celebrate Estelle’s life … she was a comedic giant. I plan on keeping the banner tribute to Estelle Getty at the top of my blog for at least a week’s time. She is sorely missed.

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Golden Girl and TV legend Rue McClanahan was joined by her castmates Caroline Rhea, Olivia Newton-John and Leslie Jordan at the NYC premiere of their new 12-episode series Sordid Lives which took place at New World Stages earlier this week. Sordid Lives is a new series based on a 1996 play and 2000 movie of the same name that is set to debut on LOGO on July 23 at 10PM. Here are a few pics from the premiere’s red carpet arrivals:

On “Sordid Lives: The Series,” the colorful folk in a certain Texas town are back in action after having won an avid following with the 1996 play and 2000 movie of the same name. For the 12-episode comedy, creator-writer-director Del Shores has reunited stars from his film including Bonnie Bedelia, Olivia Newton-John, Beth Grant and Leslie Jordan, who are joined by recruits Rue McClanahan and Caroline Rhea. What results is a riotous saga, larger than life but not far from the truth as it depicts small-town life imbued with the Spirit, cigarette smoke and self-administered Valium; pecan pie, whiskey shots at the local bar and undying love of country music superstar Tammy Wynette. And various sides of the sexual equation. For instance, Jordan plays Earl “Brother Boy” Ingram, a drag queen fixated on Wynette and locked in a mental ward, where he’s subjected to therapy to “de-homosexualize” him. He’s not the only member of the family with issues. His handsome young nephew, Ty (Jason Dottley), has set off for West Hollywood, where he struggles as an actor while trying to accept his homosexuality after being raised, he says, “rigid Southern Baptist.” “Sordid Lives” premieres Wednesday (July 23) at 10 p.m. EDT on cable’s Logo network, which targets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender viewers. But this comedy just might bring in the broader audience it deserves. “It was the funniest script I’d read since `Golden Girls,’” says McClanahan, 73, who plays pious, slightly addled Peggy Ingram, Brother Boy’s elderly mother. “The same way I knew in ‘Golden Girls’ I wanted to play Blanche, I knew I wanted to play Peggy. They’re 180 degrees different, of course, except for one thing: They’re both looking for love. “Peggy finds it,” she adds with a twinkle in her eye … Spoiler alert: Late in the series, Peggy has sex with an unlikely boyfriend. “And I’m on top!” McClanahan crows. “And still wearing her hat,” notes Shores. “I’ve just come from church. The flowers from the hat are falling in my face. I’m hanging on to his undershirt like it’s the reins of a horse. ‘Ride ‘em, cowboy!’” All discreetly edited for basic cable. “And then the bed broke!” “It truly broke,” says Shores. “We didn’t plan it.” “And I’ve got this bad knee,” says McClanahan, who continues to recover from surgery last summer. “This was in January, when it was still really bad. And I thought: We CAN’T fall off this bed! So I reached out and grabbed on to the windowsill for the rest of the scene.”

I admit that I am not very familiar with either the play or the movie but I am really interested in watching the series … hello, it’s got Rue McClananhan, you best believe I’m gonna watch every ep. In fact, I’m impressed with the whole cast — this sounds really, really funny. I hope that the audience is able to find this series … LOGO isn’t really watched by many folks (including me) but I’m hoping people seek out this show and check it out. It sounds really great … and it’s got RUE! What more could you ask for?

[Photo credit: Wireimage; Source]

The 6th Annual TV Land Awards took place at the Barker Hanger in Santa Monica, CA yesterday and a cavalcade of classic TV stars took to the red carpet for the event. It must be said, tho, that whoever the genius was who decided to make the celebs walk the carpet (and be photographed) in the blinding mid-day SoCal sun should be fired … you could almost see the make-up melting off the faces of some of our most beloved and revered classic TV celebs. Too cruel … too cruel, indeed. Anyways … here are a few photos from the TV Land Awards red carpet and a few golden moments as noted by USA Today:

Photo credit: Wireimage

•Gary Coleman of Diff’rent Strokes. Coleman walked the carpet solo but says that despite reports, he and wife Shannon Price are still together. Their one-year anniversary is Aug. 28, and she is expecting him “to come up with something spectacular,” he says. He wouldn’t comment on reports that he’s still a virgin, but he had plenty to say about Price otherwise: She likes to sell items on eBay, including Coleman autographs. And she wasn’t with him because she was at home, where “she has three dachshunds. She is very much a caregiver to them.”

Um, hello! Clearly the most Golden moment of the whole affair was the arrival of 3 of the Golden Girls on the TV Land red carpet — Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Betty White. Altho all 4 of the Golden Girls are still alive, Estelle Getty suffers from Lewy Body Dementia and is no longer well enough to able to make public appearances (Rue McClanahan revealed in an interview a few years ago that Estelle has deteriorated to the point where she no longer recognizes any of her GG co-stars and, very sadly, has no recollection at all of the show). I know Estelle was there in spirit tho, she is always present in spirit whenever the Golden Girls get together. Despite the fact that we are inundated with a plethora of (oftentimes useless) award shows, I really love the TV Land Awards for the mere fact that all of our favorite classic TV stars have a chance to be featured all together at least once a year. I mean, how else would Barry Williams be able to occupy his days? The TV Land Awards will air on TV Land on June 15th. [Source]