Friday, June 4, 2010

In Memoriam: Rue McClanahan, actress "Golden Girls", 1934-2010 / Willie Miranda Marín, politician, mayor of Caguas, 1940-2010



Here's two great personalities, gone.

Rue McClanahan, was an American actress, known for her roles as Vivian Cavender Harmon on Maude, Fran Crowley on Mama's Family, and Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls, a role that won her the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1987. McClanahan was born Eddi-Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklahoma, the daughter of Dreda Rheua-Nell (née Medaris), a beautician, and William Edwin McClanahan, a building contractor. She began acting on off-Broadway in New York City in 1957, but did not make her Broadway debut until 1969 when she portrayed Sally Weber in the original production of John Sebastian and Murray Schisgal's musical, Jimmy Shine, with Dustin Hoffman in the title role. In The Golden Girls, broadcast from 1985 until 1992 and in The Golden Palace for one year afterwards, McClanahan portrayed man-crazed Southern belle Blanche Devereaux. Devereaux was the owner of a house inhabited by four roommates: herself, Dorothy Zbornak (Bea Arthur), Rose Nylund (Betty White), and Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). She received an Emmy Award in 1987 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on the show. McClanahan died on June 3, 2010 at 1:00 a.m. in NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital after she suffered another stroke and subsequently a brain hemorrhage.


More on her bio here!


Willie Miranda Marín

The mayor of Caguas, Puerto Rico from 1997 until his death in 2010.

The son of José Miranda Gómez, a sugar cane cutter, and Rafaela Marín, a tobacco stripper, Miranda Marin was born in the Tomás de Castro sector of rural Caguas, and graduated from the José Gautier Benítez High School in Caguas in 1957. Four years later, he earned a bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras((Member of Delta Phi Thetha Fraternity)). In 1969 he completed his law degree at the University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras and was admitted to the bar in 1970.

Miranda Marín held top positions at Empresas Díaz and the San Juan Cement Co. from 1979 to 1990, among them treasurer, executive vice-president, and co-chairman of the board. Before seeking public office for the first time in 1996, he devoted three years to housing and commercial development. Miranda Marin has also served as member and treasurer of the board of the Puerto Rico Health Services Corp., as chairman of the board of the San Juan Children's Choir, and as chairman of the board of the Community Services Institute


More on his bio here!

Why did I put Willie Marin's death here? I knew the man. And a very decent man he was. Both will be missed!

1 comment:

Sings-With-Spirits said...

Rue was a grand dame in the old-school meaning of the word. She'll be missed.

Willy most certainly belongs here: he was as much a personality as he was a politician. He was a great man in the old-school meaning of the word. Just look at the outpouring of emotion on the entire island at his passing.

I have to go to Walgreens later today; I'll be driving over to the one in Caguas just to pay the "Willie Tax".

The world is poorer today.