Another "Golden Girl" has passed on, as Rue McClanahan, who played the vain, sexually-liberated Blanche Devereaux on the memorable 1980s sitcom, has died at the age of 76 after suffering a stroke. After the deaths of Bea Arthur in 2009 and Estelle Getty a year prior, Betty White remains the sole living actress from the funny, famous quartet.
With the passing of McClanahan, and the recent release of "Sex and the City 2" into theaters, it's interesting to note the similarities of both shows, especially the characters of Blanche and Samantha. In fact, it's not a reach to say that Blanche Devereaux aided in the creation and acceptance of SATC's Samantha Jones.
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On "The Golden Girls," Blanche was an older woman who still had an active sexual appetite. The show was a comedy through and through, but her desire for men and their attention was insatiable.
More than that, Blanche came around at a time when not only were older women not accepted on the small screen (aside from a co-starring role as a mother or grandmother), but a woman in her golden years seeking out relationships and dating as if she were 25 was unheard of.
"Sex and the City" fans should thank "The Golden Girls." Dorothy, Sophia, Rose and Blanche helped pave the way--many years later--for Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha. Afterall, if viewers watched and enjoyed the hijinks of four older women and their many relationships, the ups and downs of the sexually free, younger women of SATC isn't a hard to sell.
More importantly, Samantha's character--in many ways--is a more expressive, open, and due to the freedom of HBO, more vulgar adaption of Blanche. At Samantha's core, however, was an older woman who chose to approach relationships with the same conquest-like nature that men do. Samantha, like Blanche, never prescribed to the idea that age and sex were mutually exclusive.
Rue McClanahan may have died, but the legacy of Blanche Devereaux lives on--both in the hearts of viewers and the many characters that have come and gone since the debut of "The Golden Girls."
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Michael Langston Moore also writes for the African American Entertainment Examiner.
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