Dixie Carter

Dixie Virginia Carter (May 25, 1939, McLemoresville, Tennessee – April 10, 2010, Houston, Texas), was an American movie, television and stage actress. She was best known for playing Julia Sugarbaker in the television series Designing Women (1986-1993). She competed in Miss Tennessee pageants in 1959.

Dixie Carter
Dixie Carter in 2000
Born	Dixie Virginia Carter (1939-05-25)May 25, 1939 McLemoresville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	April 10, 2010(2010-04-10) (aged 70) Houston, Texas, U.S.
Cause of death	Endometrial cancer
Resting place	McLemoresville, Tennessee
Nationality	American
Education	Rhodes College
Alma mater	University of Tennessee at Knoxville, University of Memphis
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1960–2010
Known for	Julia Sugarbaker, Randi King, Gloria Hodge
Television	Designing Women, Family Law, Desperate Housewives
Height	5' 5" (1.65 m)
Spouse(s)	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 Carter
Relatives	Melba Helen Heath
Website	http://www.dixiecarter.com

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.

Personal life

Carter in December 2007

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 with the designs of architect Hoyte Johnson of Atlanta.

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.

Death

Carter died on April 10, 2010, in Houston, Texas. 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.

Movies

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1963	The Doctors
1974	One Life to Live	Dorian Cramer
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 Comedy Series	'Desperate Housewives	Nominated
2009	SXSW Film Festival	Best Ensemble Cast	That Evening Sun	Won

Other websites

• Official site Archived 2010-04-21 at the Wayback Machine
• Dixie Carter on IMDb
• Dixie Carter at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dixie Carter at Find a Grave