Arts & Entertainment
Remembering Rue
‘Golden Girls’ actress wanted fans to have a chance to own her belongings
The late Rue McClanahan with her gay best friend, Michael J. LaRue. (Photo courtesy Nik Pressley)
Some people can’t stand having stuff around they don’t use. Rue McClanahan was not one of them.
The “Golden Girls” actress, who died at age 76 in 2010 of a brain hemorrhage, wanted fans to have a chance to have her many personal belongings. Her best gay friend, Michael J. LaRue, has organized her items in a series of sales. The two met at Studio 54 of all places (for an animal charity event) about 10 years before she died and quickly became the closest of friends, LaRue says.
“For some reason, we could just crack each other up all the time,” LaRue says. “We just became really good friends. She always joked about marrying me so she could be Rue LaRue, but of course that wouldn’t have worked.”
LaRue, who was collaborating with the actress on a stage adaptation of her memoirs, says McClanahan was a keeper and collector.
“Let me tell you, that woman was a shopper and she saved everything,” he says. “She had this sprawling urban oasis in mid-town Manhattan … she had 13 closets in the house and five external storage areas and you couldn’t fit a paperclip in any one of them.”
As per McClanahan’s instructions, after family and friends had their pick, the rest goes to auction. Some was sold in Beverly Hills. A large sampling, including several scripts, costumes and collectibles from “The Golden Girls,” are available for purchase at estateofrue.com. The items are direct purchase and some are available for about $100.
“She really wanted the fans to have a chance to have what they wanted,” he says. “This isn’t about generating a zillion dollars. It’s about getting the stuff out there.”
LaRue says he’s “not a stuff person.” He has a drawing McClanahan made for him, her ashes and her Emmy. Her only child, her son Mark who lives in Texas, also took many items he wanted. In all, McClanahan named 22 beneficiaries in her will.
LaRue says McClanahan was a great pal. In addition to the work on the autobiography adaptation (“It was tight and really coming together when she got sick,” he says), a film crew followed the actress around for two years while she worked on it. Of the 150 hours they shot, a documentary is being made LaRue hopes will be finished within 18 months or two years.
LaRue says McClanahan was completely unguarded with him and had high regard for her fellow actresses, Betty White and the late Bea Arthur, though Arthur didn’t particularly care for White.
“Betty and Rue were friends and Rue and Bea were friends, and they all loved Estelle (Getty),” he says. “Susan Harris told Rue, ‘Thank God you’re here to play mediator. This show would never work without you.’”
The actresses, though, were always professional with each other, LaRue says. On taping nights, they would wait until all four were ready to go to the commissary. A reunion in which their segments were filmed separately was done because of logistics, not animosity LaRue says.
“She used to say she was nothing like Blanche, but that was such bullshit,” LaRue says of his pal. “I mean come on, she had six husbands … she was like Blanche in a lot of ways.”
The ultimate, LaRue says, was watching “Golden Girls” reruns with McClanahan, who also had starring roles on “Maude” and “Mama’s Family” in addition to the 70 movies and 250 theatrical plays she was in over her lifetime.
“We’d sit there watching and she’d say, ‘Listen to that, listen to that.’ It wasn’t about her performance. She was always pointing out how brilliant the writing was.”
Theater
A hilarious ‘Twelfth Night’ at Folger full of ‘elegant kink’
Nonbinary actor Alyssa Keegan stars as Duke Orsino
‘Twelfth Night’
Through June 22
Folger Theatre
201 East Capitol St., S.E.
$20-$84
Folger.edu
Nonbinary actor Alyssa Keegan (they/them)loves tapping into the multitudes within.
Currently Keegan plays the melancholic Duke Orsino in Folger Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Twelfth Night.” Director Mei Ann Teo describes the production as “sexy, hilarious, and devastating” and full of “elegant kink.”
Washington-based, Keegan enjoys a busy and celebrated career. Her vast biography includes Come From Away at Ford’s Theatre; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Helen Hayes Award, Best Actress) and Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive, both at Round House Theatre; Diana Son’s Stop Kiss directedby Holly Twyford for No Rules Theatre Company; and Contractions at Studio Theatre, to name just a few.
In addition to acting, Keegan works as a polyamory and ethical non-monogamy life and relationship coach, an area of interest that grew out of personal exploration. For them, coaching seems to work hand in hand with acting.
WASHINGTON BLADE: You’re playing the lovesick Orsino in Twelfth Night. How did that come about?
ALYSSA KEEGAN: The director was looking to cast a group of actors with diverse identities; throughout auditions, there were no constraints regarding anyone’s assigned sex at birth. It was really a free for all.
BLADE: What’s your approach to the fetching, cod-piece clad nobleman?
KEEGAN: Offstage I identify as completely nonbinary; I love riding in this neutral middle space. But I also love cosplay. The ability to do that in the play gives me permission to dive completely into maleness.
So, when I made that decision to play Orsino as a bio male, suddenly the part really cracked open for me. I began looking for clues about his thoughts and opinions about things like his past relationships and his decision not to date older women.
Underneath his mask of bravura and sexuality, and his firmness of feelings, he’s quite lonely and has never really felt loved. It makes sense to me why his love for Olivia is so misguided and why he might fall in love with the Cesario/Viola character.
BLADE: As an actor, do you ever risk taking on the feelings of your characters?
KEEGAN: Prior to my mental health education, yes, and that could be toxic for me. I’ve since learned that the nervous system can’t tell the difference between real emotional distress and a that of a fully embodied character.
So, I created and share the Empowered Performer Project. [a holistic approach to performance that emphasizes the mental and emotional well-being of performing artists]. It utilizes somatic tools that help enormously when stepping into a character.
BLADE: Has changing the way you work affected your performances?
KEEGAN: I think I’m much better now. I used to have nearly debilitating stage fright. I’d spend all day dreading going onstage. I thought that was just part of the job. Now, I’ve learned to talk to my body. Prior to a performance, I can now spend my offstage time calmly gardening, working with my mental health clients, or playing with my kid. I’m just present in my life in a different way.
BLADE: Is Orsino your first time playing a male role?
KEEGAN: No. In fact, the very first time I played a male role was at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Va. I played Hipolito in Thomas Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy.
As Hipolito, I felt utterly male in the moment, so much so that I had audience members see me later after the show and they were surprised that I was female. They thought I was a young guy in the role. There’s something very powerful in that.
BLADE: Do you have a favorite part? Male or female?
KEEGAN: That’s tough but I think it’s Maggie the Cat. I played the hyper-female Maggie in Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Round House. In the first act she didn’t stop talking for 51 minutes opposite Gregory Wooddell as Brick who barely had to speak. That lift was probably the heaviest I’ve ever been asked to do in acting.
BLADE: What about Folger’s Twelfth Night might be especially appealing to queer audiences?
KEEGAN: First and foremost is presentation. 99% of the cast identify as queer in some way.
The approach to Shakespeare’s text is one of the most bold and playful that I have ever seen. It’s unabashedly queer. The actors are here to celebrate and be loud and colorful and to advocate. It’s a powerful production, especially to do so close to the Capitol building, and that’s not lost on any of us.
The Washington Blade hosted the inaugural WorldPride Boat Parade at The Wharf DC on Friday, June 6. NBC4’s Tommy McFly served as the emcee.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The 2025 Capital Pride Honors awards ceremony and gala reception was held at the National Building Museum on Thursday, June 5. Honorees included Cathy Renna, Jerry St. Louis, Ernest Hopkins, Lamar Braithwaite, Rev. Dr. Donna Claycomb Sokol, Kriston Pumphrey, Gia Martinez, Kraig Williams and SMYAL. Presenters and speakers included U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), Amber Ruffin, Raven-Symoné and Paul Wharton.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
South African activists demand action to stop anti-LGBTQ violence
Gay pharmacist’s murder sparks outrage in Chile
D.C. police investigating threat of shooting at WorldPride festival
Capitalism, patriarchy, and neocolonialism are repackaging the scramble for Africa
WorldPride wraps up after epic weekend of events
Japan should end abusive detention conditions for transgender people
I interviewed Biden in late 2024 and he was attentive, engaged
Delaware Gov. Meyer announces LGBTQ commission
PHOTOS: Capital Pride Honors
