THIBODAUX – The Louisiana Center for Women & Government at Nicholls State University has announced Dixie Carter, stage and television actress, as the keynote speaker for the center’s 2008 Hall of Fame awards ceremony to be held Friday, March 14, at the Warren J. Harang Jr. Municipal Auditorium in Thibodaux.
The embodiment of down-home Southern hospitality, Dixie Carter is radiant with finesse, grace and wit. Best known for her role as interior decorator Julia Sugarbaker on the television series “Designing Women,” she was born in McLemoresville, Tenn., and is a graduate of the University of Memphis.
Carter made her television acting debut in 1963 on the soap opera “The Doctors.” Her television credits include: “Family Law,” “Ms. Carter,” “On Our Own,” “Out of the Blue,” “Filthy Rich” and “Diff’rent Strokes.” She has also starred in several television movies and mini-series including “The Killing of Randy Webster,” where she met her husband, actor Hal Holbrook.
In addition to her television credits, Carter also has an extensive theater background. She has starred in “A Woman of No Importance,” “Master Class,” “Sextet,” “A Coupla’ White Chicks Sittin’ Around Talkin'” and “Bandit Queen,” for which she won a Theatre World Award.
Carter has a successful cabaret and concert career and travels the country performing. She is the producer of two fitness videos and the author of “Trying to Get to Heaven.” Carter and her husband reside in Los Angeles with her father and their two dogs.The Hall of Fame awards ceremony will feature the induction of Kitty Degree of Monroe, Sandy Rosenthal of New Orleans, Dr. Dolores Spikes of Baton Rouge and Phyllis Taylor of New Orleans. The center will also present their Blue Ribbon Award to the WWL-TV Morning News Show with Eric Paulsen and Sally Ann Roberts and a Lifetime Achievement Award to Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, Louisiana’s first female governor and public service commissioner and chair.
Tickets are $50 each, $320 for a table of eight and $400 for a table of 10. The ticket includes a coffee and cocktail reception at 10:30 a.m. and the noon luncheon. For reservations, contact the center at (985)448-4770.
