Remembering Dixie Carter

I was heartbroken to find out this weekend that legendary actress Dixie Carter passed away this weekend at age 70 of cancer endometrial cancer.

Her earliest television work was on One Life to Live in 1974; and then she worked on The Edge of Night, where she played Brandy Henderson from 1974-76. Years later she was on Diff’rent Strokes as Maggie McKinney. But she was perhaps best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on Designing Women, which ran from 1986-1993. She also had a main role on the drama Family Law from 1999-2002, and a stint on Desperate Housewives as Orson Hodge’s mother Gloria.

My favorite role of Dixie’s hands down was on Designing Women. Julia Sugarbaker was one of the best and strongest characters on television, and Dixie did a magnificent job portraying her. I always loved it when she would go off on someone and give one of her famous “speeches.” She was also one hell of a singer.