Rue McClanahan Originally Supposed to Play Rose in ‘Golden Girls’: ‘It Would Have Been Painful’

Lauren Novak September 14, 2025

THE GOLDEN GIRLS, from left: Betty White, Rue McClanahan, 1985-1992 — Touchstone Television/Everett Collection

When The Golden Girls premiered on NBC on September 14, 1985, audiences instantly fell in love with Blanche, Rose, Dorothy, and Sophia, but according to star Rue McClanahan, the beloved sitcom could have looked very different. In an interview with the Television Academy Foundation, she revealed that she was originally expected to play Rose Nylund instead of Blanche Devereaux, a role she couldn’t imagine inhabiting for long.

McClanahan recalled that her agent first sent her the script, and even before opening it, she had a feeling it would be a hit. “I looked at it and it said The Golden Girls. And there was something about the script … I said, this is gonna be a hit. Oh yes, I felt this is the winner, I can’t wait to read it,” she remembered. She immediately fell for Blanche but was told that part was destined for Betty White, who had already made her mark as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. McClanahan was urged to consider Rose instead.

THE GOLDEN GIRLS, from left: Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, Bea Arthur, Betty White, 1985-1992, © Touchstone Television/courtesy Everett Collection

Touchstone Television/Everett Collection

The idea didn’t sit right with her. “I can’t play Rose, I’ve got to play Blanche,” she told her agent, but she was warned, “You can only be in the series and play Rose, or you can forget it.” When she went in to read for director Jay Sandrich, he asked her to try Blanche on the spot. McClanahan agreed, and the results changed everything. Days later, she and White were called in together, with McClanahan reading Blanche and White taking Rose. That switch ended up defining both women’s careers.

Still, McClanahan admitted she never really grasped the essence of Rose. “I didn’t have a handle on Rose, I didn’t know how to play Rose,” she explained. Reflecting on the possibility of being cast in the role that Betty White went on to make iconic, she didn’t mince words: “It would have been painful to have to go to work every day and play Rose.”

It all worked out. White brought a sweet, wide-eyed charm to Rose, while McClanahan turned Blanche into the fiery, flirtatious Southern belle fans adored. The chemistry between the two, along with Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty, became television magic.