My First Five Husbands...And the Ones Who Got Away: A Memoir

Rue McClanahan

Crown, Apr 10, 2007 - Biography & Autobiography - 352 pages

Rue McClanahan, best known for her portrayal of Blanche Devereaux on the Emmy-award winning series The Golden Girls reveals her life in and out of the spotlight in a laugh-out-loud funny memoir about love, marriage, men, and getting older that is every bit as colorful as the characters she played.

Raised in small-town Oklahoma in a house “thirteen telephone poles past the standpipe north of town,” Rue developed her two great passions—theater and men—at an early age. She arrived in New York City in 1957 with two-weeks worth of money in her pocket, hustled her way into a class with the legendary Uta Hagen, and began working her way up in the acting world against the vibrant, free-spirited backdrop of the sixties. That’s when she met and married Husband #1—a handsome rogue of an aspiring actor who quickly left her with a young son. Still, she was determined to make it on the stage and screen—and in the years that followed, rose to the top of the entertainment world with a host of adventures (and husbands) along the way.

From her roles on Broadway opposite Dustin Hoffman and Brad Davis, to her first television appearances on Maude and All in the Family, to the Golden Girls era and beyond, My First Five Husbands is the irresistible story of one woman’s quest to find herself. Rue is proof that many things can and do get better with age—and that, if she keeps her wits about her, even a small-town girl can make it big.

People always ask me if I'm like Blanche. And I say, 'Well, Blanche was an oversexed, self-involved, man-crazy, vain Southern Belle from Atlanta—and I'm not from Atlanta!’” —Rue McClanahan

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - RubyScarlett - LibraryThing

I'd like to thank everyone who helped make this award possible. The rest of you will be in the book. Rue McClanahan's Emmy Award Acceptance Speech, 1987 Let me preface this by saying that it's deeply ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - Tracey8824 - LibraryThing

The Golden Girls is one of my favorite shows so I borrowed this from a friend. I read it in a weekend. One of my favorite quotes from the book is Eating habits are hard to change, but it can be done ...

Contents

• Section 1: 1
• Section 2: 5
• Section 3: 6
• Section 4: 23
• Section 5: 25
• Section 6: 29
• Section 7: 40
• Section 8: 45
• Section 9: 53
• Section 10: 66
• Section 11: 71
• Section 12: 82
• Section 13: 94
• Section 14: 105
• Section 15: 115
• Section 16: 125
• Section 17: 142
• Section 18: 156
• Section 19: 159
• Section 20: 169
• Section 21: 189
• Section 22: 204
• Section 23: 224
• Section 24: 237
• Section 25: 246
• Section 26: 256
• Section 27: 269
• Section 28: 277
• Section 29: 283
• Section 30: 290
• Section 31: 295
• Section 32: 307
• Section 33: 314
• Section 34: 322
• Section 35: 324
• Section 36: 331
• Section 37: 333
• Section 38: 335
• Section 39: 337
• Section 40: 344
• Section 41: 350
• Section 42: 356

About the author

Rue McClanahan was born in Healdton, Oklahoma, and graduated cum laude in theater from the University of Tulsa. Most noted for her role as Blanche on The Golden Girls, McClanahan has had a number of well-known starring roles in television and on Broadway. In addition to her work as an actress, McClanahan spoke regularly for breast cancer awareness and prevention of cruelty toward animals. She lived in New York City with her husband, Morrow Wilson, and her cat, Bianca, until her death in 2010.

Bibliographic information

• Title: My First Five Husbands...And the Ones Who Got Away: A Memoir
• Author: Rue McClanahan
• Publisher: Crown, 2007
• ISBN: 0767927796, 9780767927796
• Length: 352 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Entertainment & Performing Arts; Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs; Humor / Topic / Marriage & Family