Actress Dixie Carter, who played an outspoken liberal on the sitcom “Designing Women” and received an Emmy nomination for a guest role on “Desperate Housewives,” has died, according to TV gossip show “Entertainment Tonight.” She was 70. Details about the time, place and cause were not immediately known. “This has been a terrible blow to our family,” actor Hal Holbrook, Carter's husband since 1984, was quoted as telling “Entertainment Tonight.” “We would appreciate everyone understanding that this is a private family tragedy.” “Designing Women,” which ran on CBS for seven seasons from 1986, revolved around the lives of four women and a man at an interior design firm in Atlanta. Carter's sharp-tongued character, Julia Sugarbaker, was an advocate of liberal causes and women's rights. In 2007, Carter received an Emmy nomination for a stint as the devious mother-in-law of Marcia Cross' character, Bree Hodge, on “Desperate Housewives.” The Tennessee native also appeared in the 1980s sitcom “Diff'rent Strokes” towards the end of its run, playing the wife of Conrad Bain's character Philip Drummond. The role was later assumed by Mary Ann Mobley after it switched networks. In addition to her 85-year-old husband, Carter is survived by her daughters from her first marriage, Mary Dixie and Ginna, “Entertainment Tonight” said.
