- Dixie Carter
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This article is about the actress. For the President of TNA Wrestling, see Dixie Carter-Salinas.
Dixie Carter 
Dixie Carter at the 41st Emmy AwardsBorn Dixie Virginia Carter
May 25, 1939
McLemoresville, Tennessee, U.S.Died April 10, 2010 (aged 70)
Houston, Texas, U.S.Cause of death Endometrial cancer Resting place McLemoresville Residence Beverly Hills,
McLemoresvilleNationality American Education Rhodes College Alma mater University of Tennessee at Knoxville,
University of MemphisOccupation Actress Years active 1960–2010 Known for Julia Sugarbaker,
Randi King,
Gloria HodgeHome town McLemoresville, Tennessee Television Designing Women,
Family Law,
Desperate HousewivesPolitical party Republican Spouse Arthur L. Carter (m. 1967–1977) (divorced; 2 daughters)
George Hearn (m. 1977–1979) (divorced)
Hal Holbrook (m. 1984–2010) (her death)Children From Carter:
Ginna Carter,
Mary Dixie CarterRelatives Melba Helen Heath Website http://www.dixiecarter.com Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939 – April 10, 2010) was an American film, television and stage actress, best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women (1986–1993). She is also known for her roles as Randi King on the CBS legal drama Family Law (1999-2002), Assistant District Attorney, Brandy Henderson on the CBS soap The Edge of Night (1974-1976), and as Gloria Hodge on the ABC series Desperate Housewives (2006-2007).
Contents
Early life
Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tennessee, and spent many of her early years in Memphis. She attended college at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College). She was a graduate of Memphis State with a degree in English.
At school, she was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority. In 1959, Carter competed in the Miss Tennessee pageant, where she placed first runner-up to Mickie Weyland. Ms. Carter won the Miss Volunteer beauty pageant at the University of Tennessee in the same year.
Career
In 1960, Carter made her professional stage debut in a Memphis production of Carousel. She moved to New York City in 1963 and got a part in a production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
After an eight-year hiatus from acting, she returned to the craft in 1974, when she filled in for actress Nancy Pinkerton as Dorian Cramer on One Life to Live, while Pinkerton was on maternity leave. She subsequently was cast in the role of Assistant D.A. Olivia Brandeis "Brandy" Henderson on the soap opera The Edge of Night, on which she appeared from 1974 to 1976. (She went along with the show when it switched from CBS to ABC.) Carter took the role even though some advised her that doing a daytime soap might negatively affect her career. However, it was with this role that Carter was first noticed, and after leaving Edge of Night in 1976, she relocated from New York to Los Angeles and pursued prime-time television roles.
She appeared in series such as Out of the Blue, On Our Own, Diff'rent Strokes, The Greatest American Hero (playing a KGB spy), and Filthy Rich (1982). Carter's appearance in Filthy Rich paved the way for her best-known role, that of interior decorator Julia Sugarbaker in the 1980s/1990s television program Designing Women, set in Atlanta, Georgia. Filthy Rich had been created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who also went on to create Designing Women. (Filthy Rich also featured fellow Designing Women cast member Delta Burke in its cast.) Hal Holbrook, her real-life husband, had a recurring role as Reese Watson, and Carter's daughters, Ginna and Mary Dixie, also had guest-star roles as Julia Sugarbaker's nieces, Jennifer and Camilla.
Coincidentally, actress Mary Ann Mobley who replaced Dixie as Maggie on Diff'rent Strokes, guest starred on Designing Women, as Karen, a snide head of a historical society who put Julia's home on a tour of homes, and ended up angering Julia.
Famous for portraying strong-minded Southern women, Carter provided the voice of Necile in Mike Young Productions' direct-to-video 2000 cartoon feature The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. She was also in the voice cast of My Neighbors the Yamadas, the English-language dub of Studio Ghibli's 1999 anime movie My Neighbors the Yamadas.[1]
From 1999 to 2002, she portrayed Randi King on the legal drama Family Law, portraying a lawyer for the first time since she was Brandy Henderson on The Edge of Night. In 2004, she made a guest appearance on Law and Order: SVU, playing a defense attorney named Denise Brockmorton in the episode called Home, in which she defended the paranoid mother of two children (Diane Venora) who had manipulated her older son to kill the younger son, after breaking her home rules.
Carter starred in several Broadway musicals and plays. She appeared on and off-Broadway as well, playing the role of Melba Snyder in the 1976 Circle in the Square revival of Pal Joey and diva Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Master Class, a role created by Zoe Caldwell.
In 2006–07 Carter found a resurgence of fame with a new generation of fans portraying the disturbed Gloria Hodge on Desperate Housewives. Creator Marc Cherry started out in Hollywood as Carter's assistant on the set of Designing Women. Her first and only Emmy Awards nomination was for the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards under the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Gloria Hodge.
Carter gave an interview in 2006 for the feature length documentary, That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor, which received support from Taylor's family and many of Dub's previous co-workers, including Bill Cosby, Peter Fonda, Don Collier, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett and many others. The project was scheduled to have its World Premiere at Taylor's childhood hometown of Augusta, Georgia on April 14, 2007.
Her final film was That Evening Sun, which she filmed on site with her husband Hal Holbrook in East Tennessee in the summer of 2008. The film was produced by Dogwood Entertainment (a subsidiary of DoubleJay Creative) and is based on a short story by William Gay. That Evening Sun premiered at South By Southwest, where it competed for the narrative feature grand jury prize.[2]
Personal life
Hal Holbrook and Dixie Carter at the 41st Emmy Awards, 1990.
In 1967, Carter married businessman Arthur Carter (no relation). They had two daughters (who would later appear in an episode of Designing Women), Mary Dixie and Ginna. Following the birth of her daughters, Carter left acting for eight years to focus on raising her children.
She divorced Arthur Carter in 1977, and married Broadway and TV actor George Hearn the same year. Two years later, in 1979, she divorced Hearn. She married for the third time on May 27, 1984, to Hal Holbrook (14 years her senior), who is most noted for his appearances as Mark Twain. Carter renovated her old family home in McLemoresville. She and Holbrook divided their time between their homes in Beverly Hills, California, and McLemoresville, Tennessee, where Carter's elderly father, Halbert, resided until his death in early 2007, at age 96.
In 1996, Carter published a memoir titled Trying to Get to Heaven, in which she talked frankly about her life with Hal Holbrook, Designing Women, and her plastic surgery during the show's run. She acknowledged, along with other celebrities, having used HGH (Human Growth Hormone) for its anti-aging properties.[3]
Political views
Carter was also a registered Republican who described her political views as libertarian.[4] She was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly along with Pat Boone at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Although her Designing Women character, Julia Sugarbaker, was known for her liberal political views and subsequent monologues, Carter disagreed with many of her character's left-of-center commentaries and made a deal with the producers that for every speech she had to make with which she disagreed, Julia would get to sing a song in a future episode.[5] Carter once jokingly described herself as "the only Republican in show business".[6] She was also a strong supporter of the gay community.[7][8]
Death and legacy
Carter died on April 10, 2010, in Houston, Texas.[9] Her death was announced by her husband, actor Hal Holbrook, who stated the cause as complications from endometrial cancer which was diagnosed earlier in 2010. In addition to Holbrook, she is survived by her daughters from her first marriage: Ginna Carter (of Los Angeles) and Mary Dixie Carter (of Brooklyn) as well as a sister, Melba Helen Heath (of San Anselmo, California) and several nephews and nieces. In addition to family, her funeral, held on April 15, 2010, was attended by Designing Women co-stars Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart. Dixie Carter was interred in her hometown, McLemoresville, Tennessee.
The Dixie Carter Performing Arts and Academic Enrichment Center (informally called "The Dixie") in Huntingdon, Tennessee is named in honor of Carter.
A public service announcement made by Carter in 2003 describing and offering outreach to sufferers of Spasmodic Torticollis / Cervical Dystonia began appearing in New York and New Jersey, and then across the United States in 2010.[10]
Filmography
Year Title Role Other notes late 1970s The Doctors 1974-1976 The Edge of Night A.D.A Olivia Brandeis Henderson 1977 The Andros Targets Rita 1 episode " The Killing of a Porno Queen" 1977-1978 On Our Own April Baxter 22 episodes 1979 Out of the Blue Marion Richards 12 episodes 1980 OHMS Nora Wing 1981 The Killing of Randy Webster Billie Webster 1982 Cassie & Co. Evelyn Weller 1 episode "The Golden Silence" Bret Maverick Hallie McCulloch 1 episode "Hallie" Best of the West Mae Markham 1 episode "The Pretty Prisoner" Quincy, M.E. Dr. Alicia Ranier 1 episode "The Face of Fear" The Greatest American Hero Samantha O'Neill 1 episode " Lilacs, Mr. Maxwell" Lou Grant Jessica Lindner 1 episode "Suspect" 1982-1983 Filthy Rich Carlotta Beck 15 episodes 1983 Going Berserk Angela 1984-1985 Diff'rent Strokes Maggie McKinney 28 episodes 1986 Crazy Like a Fox 1 episode "Fox on the Range" 1986-1993 Designing Women Julia Sugarbaker 163 episodes 1994 A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle Louise Archer Gambler V: Playing for Keeps Lillie Langtry Christy Julia Huddleston 1 episode "The Sweetest Gift" 1995 Dazzle Lydie Kilkullen Diagnosis: Murder D.A. Patricia Purcell 1 episode "Murder in the Courthouse" 1996 Gone in the Night Ann Dowaliby 1997 Fired Up Rita 2 episodes "The Mother of All Gwens" and "Honey, I Shrunk the Turkey" 1999-2000 Ladies Man Peaches 9 episodes 1999-2002 Family Law Randi King 68 episodes 1999 My Neighbors the Yamadas voice: English version 2000 The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus Necile voice 2001 The Big Day Carol 2003 Comfort and Joy Frederica 2004 Sudbury TV pilot Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Denise Brockmorton 1 episode "Home" 2005 Hope & Faith Joyce Shanowski 1 episode " A Room of One's Own" 2006-2007 Desperate Housewives Gloria Hodge 7 episodes 2008 Our First Christmas Evie Baer 2009 That Evening Sun Ellen Meecham Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Series or Play Result 1976 Theatre World Award Outstanding Actress Jesse and the Bandit Queen Won 1979 Drama Desk Award Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play Fathers and Sons Nominated 1989 Los Angeles Women in Film Festival Excellence in TV Episodic Comedy Designing Women Won 2007 Emmy Awards Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series 'Desperate Housewives Nominated 2009 SXSW Film Festival Best Ensemble Cast That Evening Sun Won References
- ^ ""Designing Women" star Dixie Carter dies at 70". forum.bcdb.com, April 10, 2010
- ^ SXSW unveils lineup
- ^ USA Today November 15, 2000
- ^ Winter, Bill. "Dixie Carter – Libertarian". Advocates for Self-Government. http://www.theadvocates.org/celebrities/dixie-carter.html.
- ^ "'Designing Women’ actress Dixie Carter dies at 70; had roots in West Tennessee". The Commercial Appeal.Com. April 11, 2010. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/apr/10/designing-women-actress-dixie-carter-dies-70/. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
- ^ "The View". Official Website. January 31, 2001. http://www.dixiecarter.com/Trans/TR011.html.
- ^ Metroweekly website/Carter obituary
- ^ YouTube
- ^ Notice of Dixie Carter's death
- ^ "Spasmodic Torticollis / Cervical Dystonia Public Service Announcement featuring Dixie Carter". Healthznews.com. http://healthznews.com/spasmodic-torticollis-cervical-dystonia-public-service-announcement-featuring-dixie-carter.html.
External links
Categories:- 1939 births
- 2010 deaths
- Actors from Tennessee
- American female singers
- American film actors
- American libertarians
- American musical theatre actors
- American soap opera actors
- American stage actors
- American television actors
- American voice actors
- Cabaret singers
- California Republicans
- Cancer deaths in Texas
- Deaths from uterine cancer
- University of Memphis alumni
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