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My First Five Husbands - And the Ones Who Got Away
by Rue McClanahan
Broadway Books
ISBN 0-7679-2676-8
Published April 2007 - Hardcover - 338 pages - $24.95

Rue McClanahan, alias the irrepressible Blanche Devereaux on the hit television series The Golden Girls, has an interesting life to tell us about.  Born in Oklahoma, she writes about her early family memories, how the family moved around for a while, her schools, and her "acting" in school plays as well as her ballet.  Also, of course, about her beaux.  It's well known that Ms. McClanahan has been married multiple times.  Six in all.  That's a lot of marriages in anyone's book.  I had to wonder why, after say two failed marriages, she didn't just live with the next "he's the one".  It would have been so much less expensive and less of an emotional toll.  However, her book concentrates a lot on sex and on her sexuality, and I now realize just how interlaced Rue and Blanche were.  Sex seems like a preoccupation for Ms. McClanahan; a little too obsessive for my liking.  It was interesting to read about the many other actors she came into contact with and worked with, reminding us just how small the world really is.  Also, we learn that one's success is seldom overnight, and that a lot of hard work and persistence is needed.  She had one son on whom she doted, and he spent an inordinate amount of time with his grandparents while his mama was out working, searching for work, looking for a place to live, or just out galavanting.  There's very little about her breast cancer.  What I didn't like, and thought rather sleazy in a way, was Ms. McClanahan rating (A-F) her lovers.  I felt sorry for the poor men whose privates were on parade.  Tacky, dear, very tacky.
Conclusion - An okay read but would have been better without the unladylike ratings.