Emmy Award Winner and Golden Girls Star Rue McClanahan was reported dead at the age of 76. She died due to a massive stroke at 1 AM, according to her manager Barbara Lawrence.

Rue McClanahan suffered from a stroke earlier this year while recovering from bypass surgery. She was also diagnosed with breast cancer in June 1997, but she fully recovered from it.

Rue McClanahan was born on Feb. 21, 1934 at Oklahoma. she graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in theater arts and German. Rue then moved to New York to pursue a career in acting. She made a name for herself on the Broadway stage in the early 1950s before hitting it big on the small screen.

She starred on stage opposite Dustin Hoffman in ‘Jimmie Shine’ and won an Obie for ‘Who’s Happy Now,’ before taking a part on the soap opera ‘Another World.’ McClanahan’s character became so notorious that the soap extended what was intended as a short-term role became a year-long story line.

In 2007, the star wrote a book called ‘My First Five Husbands, and the Ones Who Got Away.’