Blanche Devereaux

Blanche Elizabeth Devereaux (née Hollingsworth) is one of the four main fictional characters on the 1985–1992 NBC sitcom The Golden Girls, and its CBS spin-off The Golden Palace. In the pilot episode, her last name was given as Hollingsworth, but this was somewhat "corrected" in later episodes by making this her maiden name. Blanche was portrayed by Rue McClanahan for 8 years and 204 episodes. McClanahan had previously been a co-star with Beatrice Arthur in Maude and with Betty White in the first two seasons of Mama's Family. In pre-production, producers had originally planned for White (who was known for playing promiscuous characters such as Sue Ann Nivens) to play Blanche, but neither White nor McClanahan wanted to be typecast, and the two were given permission to switch roles. 2Family Blanche Elizabeth Hollingsworth Devereaux, born November 29, 1932, grew up near Atlanta, Georgia, at her family's mansion, Twin Oaks. Her parents were the late Elizabeth-Ann Margaret Bennett (later seasons named her "Samantha Roquet") (Helen Kleeb) and Curtis "Big Daddy" Hollingsworth (first Murray Hamilton, and after Hamilton died, David Wayne), the latter a revered man in his neck of the woods. Much to Blanche's dismay, he married a young widow named Margaret Spencer (Sondra Currie) years after Blanche's mother died, but she grudgingly accepted the marriage. Her father later died, and the news of his affair caused a shift in their father-daughter relationship. She attended the fictional Miss McIver's Finishing Schoo