Able to move alternate between comedy and melodrama, and portray everything from vixens to suffering mothers, the curvaceous yet full-boned, slender-nosed McClanahan has been on TV almost continuously since snagging the role of Vivian Harmon, best friend to "Maude", in 1972. Flirtatious and a bit ditzy as Vivian, McClanahan took out the "ditzy" but kept in the flirt more than a decade later when she created the role for which she is most recognized, that of Blanche Devereaux, self-proclaimed middle-aged sex goddess on "The Golden Girls" (NBC, 1985-92). With her Southern charm, girlish moves and the constant tippy-tap of her pumps, Blanche charmed the nation as she proved that sexual appetite--whether quenched or not--knows no age.
Like Blanche, McClanahan, has Southern roots in Oklahoma. Stage struck from an early age, she headed to New York after college. Small roles followed in theater, as well as small parts in low-budget features like "Walk the Angry Beach" (1961) [which are not listed in official press material]. McClanahan also did stints on such soap operas as "Another World" and "Where the Heart Is". A part in the Broadway production of "Jimmy Shine", which starred Dustin Hoffman, was followed by an OBIE--winning performance in "Who's Happy Now?".
After more than a decade as a professional actress, she began to be noticed by Hollywood. McClanahan won small roles in several feature films, including "The People Next Door" (1970), and "The Pursuit of Happiness" (1971). She was caught the attention of Norman Lear who cast her as friend and neighbor to Beatrice Arthur's "Maude" (CBS, 1972-78). McClanahan's role as Vivian was a bit of an airbrain, but endowed with a mature sexuality. Following "Maude", Lear gave McClanahan the lead in "Apple Pie", a short-lived 1978 ABC series. Out of weekly work, McClanahan began appearing in TV-movies including "Rainbow" (NBC, 1978) and "Sergeant Matlovich vs. The U.S. Air Force" (NBC, 1978) in which she was the mother of gay activist Leonard Matlovich in McClanahan hooked onto "Mama's Family" (NBC, 1983-84) as Aunt Fran, the spinster sister of Mama (Vicki Lawrence). Unhappy with the role, McClanahan left the series after one season. When the production company, Witt-Thomas-Harris was preparing a pilot for NBC about three mature ladies in Miami called "The Golden Girls", McClanahan was offered the role of the dim-witted Rose Nylund. Simultaneously, Betty White had been offered the role of Blanche Devereaux, the man-hungry vixen. Both women felt they were being typecast in those roles and with the network's approval, switched parts. McClanahan became Blanche, the honey-talking, seductive, vain, self-absorbed, man-prowling, but lovable landlord of the Golden Girls.
McClanahan's popularity soared with the series and she found herself in demand for parts in TV-movies. By the late 1980s, she was starring in one and often two TV-movies a season, including "Liberace" (ABC 1988) as the performer's mother, and "Take My Daughters, Please" (NBC, 1988) as a woman who goes on TV to find mates for her girls. In 1990, McClanahan created the role of Margaret Hix Becker in "Children of the Bride" (CBS, 1990) as a woman who marries a younger man. She reprised the role in two sequels: "Baby of the Bride" (CBS, 1991), in which she found herself pregnant, and "Mother of the Bride" (CBS, 1993), in which she coped with her daughter's impending marriage. She appeared in the miniseries "Innocent Victims" (ABC, 1996) as the mother of a man (John Corbett) accused of murder.
When "The Golden Girls" ended its run with the departure of Beatrice Arthur, McClanahan joined the other regulars in moving to a new format on CBS' "Golden Palace" (1992-93) which failed to capture the popularity of the original series. Returning to her theatrical roots, McClanahan co-starred in the musical "Nunsense" and its sequel "Nunsense 2" (A&E, 1995). The same year, she returned to the New York stage to co-star with Barbara Barrie in Anne Meara's "After-Play". McClanahan left the role when the production transferred to a larger venue to accept a role in an English production of "Harvey". She jumpstarted her feature career in 1997 with roles as the shrewish mother of possibly incestuous twins in the noirish indie "This World, Then the Fireworks" and as a wealthy socialite on a cruise who takes dance lessons from faux teacher Walter Matthau in the genial comedy "Out to Sea".