Just saw that on the Today Show. What a beautiful and talented woman. I am very curious about the failure to release a cause of death.

i loved her and the show. I think her husband is Hal Holbrook, also an actor. RIP.

You are right, Jannie, she was married to Hal Holbrook. I always admired her. I remember seeing an interview and she said she wanted to be remembered as a Classy Broad. RIP, Dixie, you truly were a Classy Broad. Dottie

Wow. She's currently on a commercial; don't remember what the ad is for.

I truly loved that show and her character on it. I'm very sorry to hear this!

RIP Dixie

Always liked her! Loved her accent!

Love, love, love D.W.--it hasn't been on in syndication for a while, I keep looking!

The whole cast was perfect, but Dixie Carter clearly was the tops. It's so funny how sometimes we think that the actress is, in real life, who we think she plays on TV. It seemed that way, always--that Dixie Carter was the sweet Southern belle with quite a way with words in real life. Perhaps she was, with her speaking manner, how she dressed in the show (shoulder pads excepted!), a stride instead of just a walk. Perhaps that role of Julia was made just for her. (I also think that she and Hal Holbrooke just looked like the cutest couple!)

And the writing cast of that show? Superb. "Julia" had some very fine speeches and lines. Like when she called the New York journalist to leave a msg that Southern people might have eaten some crow in their life, but never dirt (he'd written an article about it). And when she defended her sister after some nasty things were said behind her back because of her weight (this was the pageant show and the speech that ended "and THAT was the night..the lights went out in Georgia!"--look it up on the web, it's that good), and one where she ended a conversation with either a customer service person or an operator with something like "and I want to thank you--you've been absolutely no help at all." Oh how many times do I wish I'd remembered THAT line when I've been on the phone!

OK, then I guess I was correct in that she has been on a commercial lately, for diabetic supplies, I think.

RIP Dixie. My first statement to Twinkie after he told me the news was, "What's Hal Holbrook gonna do without her!?" I always got the feeling that they were a very close, loving couple.

Yep, one classy broad.

Will always remember her southern and feisty character on Designing Women! Always loved it when she went off on her rants telling someone off! Thanks for the laughs, Dixie, and RIP....

The Julia Sugarbaker speech to which PammyFay refers about Suzanne Sugarbaker and the beauty pagent is this:

Julia: Excuse me, aren't you Marjorie Leigh Winnick, the current Miss Georgia World?
Marjorie: Why, yes I am.
Julia: I'm Julia Sugarbaker, Suzanne Sugarbaker's sister. I couldn't help over hearing part of your conversation.
Marjorie: Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know anyone was here.
Julia: Yes, and I gather from your comments there are a couple of other things you don't know, Marjorie. For example, you probably didn't know that Suzanne was the only contestant in Georgia pageant history to sweep every category except congeniality, and that is not something the women in my family aspire to anyway. Or that when she walked down the runway in her swimsuit, five contestants quit on the spot. Or that when she emerged from the isolation booth to answer the question, "What would you do to prevent war?" she spoke so eloquently of patriotism, battlefields and diamond tiaras, grown men wept. And you probably didn't know, Marjorie, that Suzanne was not just any Miss Georgia, she was the Miss Georgia. She didn't twirl just a baton, that baton was on fire. And when she threw that baton into the air, it flew higher, further, faster than any baton has ever flown before, hitting a transformer and showering the darkened arena with sparks! And when it finally did come down, Marjorie, my sister caught that baton, and 12,000 people jumped to their feet for sixteen and one-half minutes of uninterrupted thunderous ovation, as flames illuminated her tear-stained face! And that, Marjorie - just so you will know - and your children will someday know - is the night the lights went out in Georgia!

And the "eating dirt" speech:

Yes, you can give him a message. You do take shorthand, don't you? Good, we take it in the South too. Anyway, just tell him that I have been a Southerner all my life, and I can vouch for the fact the we do eat a lot of things down here... and we've certainly all had our share of grits and biscuits and gravy, and I myself have probably eaten enough fried chicken to feed a third world country - not to mention barbecue, cornbread, watermelon, fried pies, okra, and... yes... if I were being perfectly candid, I would have to admit we have also eaten our share of crow, and for all I know - during the darkest, leanest years of the Civil War, some of us may have had a Yankee or two for breakfast. But... speaking for myself and hundreds of thousands of my Southern ancestors who have evolved through many decades of poverty, strife, and turmoil, I would like for Mr. Weaks to know that we have surely eaten many things in the past, and we will surely eat many things in the future, but - God as my witness - we have never, I repeat, never eaten dirt!

Apparently it was endometrial cancer.

This is the one I'll always remember:

Julia goes to see Charlene's doctor.
JULIA: Dr. Mitchell, I'm Julia Sugarbaker. May I come in?
DR. MITCHELL: Yes, but I hope this won't take long. I'm on the staff of three hospitals, and I still have rounds.
JULIA: Oh, I understand how very busy you are, and I'll be brief. I've come because I'm a very close friend of Charlene Frazier's.
DR. MITCHELL: Charlene Frazier is no longer my patient, so I can't see....
JULIA: Actually I'm not here only for Charlene, but on behalf of all your patients.
DR. MITCHELL: I don't understand.
JULIA: What I'd like to know is, how many more women do you plan to kill before you retire.
DR. MITCHELL: I beg your pardon?!
JULIA: You see, I've done a little checking on you, Dr. Mitchell, and I've discovered that Charlene is not the first woman you've told to wait. You said the same thing to another close friend of mine, only at that time I didn't know that you were her physician. Well she trusted you. She waited four months before her breasts had become so misshapen she had to come back, but by then it was too late.
DR. MITCHELL: Mrs. Sugarbaker, I don't think I'd like to discuss with you medical judgments which you know nothing about.
JULIA: Medical jargon doesn't impress me. I was brought up in a medical family, and my grandfather always said 80% was common sense. There's nothing mysterious about having a lump in your breast. It's simple, when you find one you have it x-rayed or biopsied. I know that. Most physicians know that. What I don't understand is, why don't you know that?
DR. MITCHELL: Well, it's obvious to me that you are an emotional and overwrought woman.
JULIA: Not emotional, Doctor, I'm just plain mad. Which is why I'm filing charges against you with the state medical board and the AMA.
DR. MITCHELL: Well, if you'd like to make a fool of yourself, be my guest, but I can assure you you're in no way qualified to make these judgments. I think this meeting is over.
JULIA: I think so too, but as for qualified, neither are you. You don't depend on medicine. Your weapon is intimidation. You're a seemingly kind, benevolent authority figure who tells women to let you do their worrying for them. Well there's just one thing wrong with that, Dr. Mitchell; you don't have to do that dying.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dixie Carter cause of death

A great actress and a classy broad.
Rest in Peace Dixie Carter.

She was always a favorite of mine. I was shocked to read of her death and wondered why they didn't say how she died. She was a classy broad.

I forgot to mention what a beautiful singer she was. I'll always remember when she sang How Great Thou Are in one episode of Designing Women. Oh, the beautiful high note she reached at the end of the song. Dottie

I got Best of "Designing Women" on DVD...gonna have to pull it out for some fond memories...how could you not like Julia in that show...so sad...she was waay to young...