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.

## 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

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|||
|rowspan=6|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||
|rowspan=3|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"|||
|rowspan=2|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|||
|rowspan=2|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_||
|1979|Drama Desk Award|Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Play|_Fathers and Sons_||
|1989|_Los Angeles Women in Film Festival_|Excellence in TV Episodic Comedy|_Designing Women_||
|2007|Emmy Awards|Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series|'Desperate Housewives''||
|2009|SXSW Film Festival|Best Ensemble Cast|_That Evening Sun_||

## Other websites

- Official site

## Infobox (actor)

- **name**: Dixie Carter
- **image**: Dixie Carter 2000.jpg
- **caption**: Dixie Carter in 2000
- **birth place**: McLemoresville, Tennessee, U.S.
- **birth name**: Dixie Virginia Carter
- **death place**: Houston, Texas, U.S.
- **death cause**: Endometrial cancer
- **resting place**: McLemoresville, Tennessee
- **height**: 5' 5" (1.65 m)
- **nationality**: United States, American
- **education**: Rhodes College
- **alma mater**: University of Tennessee at Knoxville,
University of Memphis
- **television**: Designing Women,
Family Law (TV series), Family Law,
Desperate Housewives
- **known for**: Julia Sugarbaker,
Randi King,
Acquaintances of Bree Van de Kamp#Gloria Hodge, Gloria Hodge
- **occupation**: Actress
- **years active**: 1960–2010
- **spouse**: (divorced; 2 daughters)
 (divorced)
 (her death)
- **children**: From Carter:
Ginna Carter,
Mary Dixie Carter
- **relations**: Melba Helen Heath
- **website**: http://www.dixiecarter.com