“Sordid Lives” creator Del Shores talks to The Advocate about working with the late, great Rue McClanahan

Sordid Lives: The Series may not loom as large on Rue McLanahan’s resume as her classic television sitcoms The Golden Girls and Maude, but it was the great actress’s final series and its creator, Del Shores, describes her as a “comedic genius.”

Rue (pictured above with Shores and cast members Caroline Rhea, Leslie Jordan and Olivia Newton-John) played Peggy Ingram on the series which aired for 12 episodes on Logo in 2008.

“First of all, she was a comedic genius,” Shores says in a new interview with Brandon Voss for The Advocate. “She was so quick, so sharp, and her sense of humor was so wicked. She spoke my language in so many ways. She was so loving, warm, and generous that you felt like you’d been her friend forever. I mean, she had her moments when she let you know how she felt! [Laughs] But she was never difficult, and she was a always a joy to work with. I love what she said to me the first time we spoke about the show. I sent all 12 scripts to Barbara, her manager, for Rue to read. She called the very next day and she had read all of them. She said, “Del, I never thought I’d get to play a woman in love again. I love playing a woman in love.” And after a perfect comedic beat, she said, “It doesn’t pay anything, does it?” I said, “No, it’s on Logo…” She said, “Yes, I heard, I’ll do it.” But she made it very clear when we were doing press that she made less money for the whole series than she made on one episode of The Golden Girls.”

Rue died on June 3 and Shores remembers his final visit with her: Rue had had the stroke, she was still recovering from the triple bypass, so she was still speaking slowly and deliberately, but she was starting to speak very clearly. I was telling her about the Sordid movies I had planned in my head — I still own the rights to continue these characters in features and on the stage — and I said, “You gotta get better. We’re not done, Rue.” She said, “I want to play Peggy again, but honey, you may have to write a stroke into her character.” I said, “Rue, she fell and hit her head on a sink in a motel room. It would be easy to write in a little speech problem. And then we’ll just tell people your acting is more brilliant than ever.” She loved that. I left that day and really thought I’d see her again, so I was just devastated when her manager, Barbara, called to tell me she had another stroke. Her son was flying in from Austin and Rue didn’t want any kind of life support, so there was no hope. The night before she passed, I arrived at the theater knowing that they had pulled the plug and that she wouldn’t be with us much longer. It was a horrible night because I couldn’t share it with anybody. The next night, after she had passed away, we dedicated the show to her. We said, “Yellow goes golden.”

Here is a LINK to the rest of the interview. It’s pretty dishy! Shores new play, Yellow, opens June 11 and continues through July 25 at West Hollywood’s Coast Playhouse.