Dixie Carter, RIP
Actress Dixie Carter, start of the TV show Designing Women, has died. She was 70.
As one of the stars in the 90s sitcom Designing Women, Carter’s role was that of interior designer Julia Sugarbaker, the outspoken, liberal, Southerner with a heart of gold. Dixie died on Saturday morning, and initially the official case of death had not been released. Now the official news is that Dixie Carter died in a Houston hospital from complications of endometrial cancer.
Endometrial cancer is cancer of the wall lining of the uterus. It is a highly curable cancer if it is caught and treated in time, according to the National Cancer Institute. Women may have this cancer without symptoms and a simple pap smear does not detect endometrial cancer because it lies inside the uterus.
Miss Carter was set to appear in Washington beginning in June in a revival of George Bernard Shaw’s “Mrs. Warren’s Profession”. It was reported as early as last week in the Washington Post that she was recovering from surgery and would not be able to attend in May for scheduled rehearsals.
In addition to Designing Women, Dixie Carter was a phenomenal singer, who performed on Broadway and had a guest role on “Desperate Housewives” that won her an Emmy nomination in 2007.
Before the news came of the cause of death, rumors had swirled around just exactly was ailing the actress. She had not been photographed recently. Her father died of Parkinson’s disease, and there were some rumors that maybe she suffered the same ailment.
Her husband of 26 years, fellow actor Hal Holbrook, released a statement requesting privacy while the family mourns. Dixie Carter had two children from a previous marriage, Ginna Carter of Los Angeles and Mary Dixie Carter of Brooklyn.
