In her book, Rue McClanahan states that she replaced the original Vivian during rehearsals for the first episode.
shareGreat question. If Rue replaced her during rehearsals for the first episode, that actress didn't make it to the air. Sorry ... I'm of no help here.
share[deleted]
It was Dabney Coleman.
shareRue did indeed replace another actress and that actress was in fact Doris Roberts but Doris did not necessarily back out.
An upcoming documentary about Rue McClanahan will give the details about this and other behind the scenes information about not only Maude but The Golden Girls and many of Rue's costars.
Each week leading up to the release of the documentary a clip will be released on The Official Rue McClanahan Memorial Page on facebook as well as twitter.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Official-Rue-McClanahan-Memorial-Pa ge/108959692484208?ref=ts
and
http://twitter.com/EstateOfRue
I thought she replaced Doris Roberts on Golden Girls, not Maude.
shareThat's ironice, since Doris Robetrs says Bette White and her were also competing for roles. However, Roberts and Rue are nothing alike. I can't see her playing Rue's 'Vivian' character, but more like Maude.
shareIn the show, I have always known Rue to play Vivian and she did an excellent job. I noticed that after the "facelift", she changed her look, attitude and voice. Vivian started off kinda rugged and turned into an effervescent naive dunce, who was still awesome. I guess she was the Rose of Maude. I could see how one would think she were played by someone else at first.
shareIn an interview with the Archive of American Television, Rue McClanahan said that she was approached by producer Norman Lear during the taping of the "All in the Family" episode "The Bunkers and the Swingers" to take on the role of Vivian as a late replacement for Doris Roberts.
shareIn the All In The Family episode "Maude" (which was used as the pilot for the Maude show), there were several women that came all at once to the house as party guests for Carol's wedding. Rue McClanahan wasn't there and those women's names weren't mentioned so for all we know, anyone of them could of been Vivian...
shareWell there also wasn't an Arthur, a different actress played Carol, no Philip and no Florida. While it was the basis for the eventual series, the series hadn't been fully fleshed out yet so the odds are great that the character of Vivian hadn't yet been created.
shareThe episode you mention was an episode of All in the Family, which served as the pilot for the series. It's not at all uncommon for there to be recasts (or cast additions) after filming of the pilot episode, which is usually filmed months before the series actually goes into production. Marcia Rodd was the actress who played Carol in the pilot but replaced by Adrienne Barbeau in the series. Not sure of the reason for the switch but my impression was that Rodd's Carol had too much of an edge to it whereas Barbeau made for a softer, more likeable Carol.
shareMarcia Rodd appeared in Season Six's Walter's Temptation. She was one of Walter's employees that wanted to go to bed with Walter...
Marcia Rodd was based in NY and decided she didn't want to move out to LA to do the series. But she remained a favorite of Lear's casting execs: she did further guest appearances on All in the Familiy, Maude, Archie Bunker's Place, and All's Fair.
shareFor all we know, Arthur might have been in the car waiting for Walter and Archie to go to the bachelor party, but then again, I don't quite think Arthur would be THAT generous to shell out ten bucks either!