Dixie Carter was born in McLemoresville, Tennessee, in 1939 and grew up in Memphis. Carter was valedictorian of her class at Huntingdon High School in Tennessee and she was also named the 1956 West Tennessee Strawberry Festival Queen.
Knoxville News Sentinel, November 16, 1958
In 1957, she enrolled at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. There she became a member of the Delta Sigma chapter of Delta Delta Delta. She was elected Vice President of the pledge class.
In 1958, as a sophomore, she was elected sponsor of the University of Tennessee “Pride of the Southland” band. Her first appearance was at Memphis’ Crump Stadium where Tennessee played Mississippi State. Her formal presentation was at the Tennessee-Alabama game two weeks later. She was selected Miss Volunteer in 1958. In 1959, she was a finalist for the title she had held the previous year.
Knoxville News Sentinel, May 15, 1959
Knoxville New Sentinel, May 15, 1959
Courtesy of University of Tennessee Special Collections
Courtesy of University of Tennessee Special Collections
Courtesy of University of Tennessee Special Collections
When Carter was advised by the UT music department to give up singing and instead focus on piano, she left the university. She transferred to Rhodes College and took up acting. She finally finished her degree at the University of Memphis. Rhodes later awarded her an honorary doctorate.
Carter made her professional stage debut in Memphis in 1960. George Hearn was her co-star in a production of Carousel.
She won a role in an off Broadway production of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale in 1963. Carter was married three times. From 1967 until 1977, she was married to Arthur L. Carter and gave birth to two daughters. Carter then married her former co-star George Hearn in 1977 but they divorced two years later. She moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and married Hal Holbrook in 1984.
For seven years she played Julia Sugarbaker in Designing Women. Carter died on April 10, 2010 at the age of 70.
