Dixie

Dixie Carter passed away one week ago. Although I hadn't seen her in 8 years, it made me very sad. I was Dixie's stand-in on the TV show "Family Law" for 3 years, and although we did not grow close enough to stay in touch upon the show's cancellation, I enjoyed working with her during those years.

What I remember most about Dixie is that she LOVED LOVED LOVED her family. She talked about her husband, Hal Holbrook, constantly, and clearly adored the man. At that point, they had been married for 20 years, and her eyes gleamed like a teenager in love when she spoke of him. Hal guest starred on an episode of Family Law, and she was the happiest she had ever been on set that week. Literally glowed, lit up at anything to do with Hal. Pretty amazing.

9/11 happened during the run of FL, and I remember her worrying desperately about one of her daughters who was either in New York or en route to New York. She was beside herself, stressed out. She really was a genuinely maternal woman. One of her daughters played Dixie's daughter on the show. Several episodes later, the TV daughter was killed off and Dixie insisted that the role be recast. She absolutely refused to play a scene with her dying daughter, said she just wouldn't be able to handle it. At the time, I didn't understand, I just thought "You're an actress, for goodness sake... ACT!" Now I get it. She loved her kids so much and couldn't even go there.

As you can probably imagine, she was the ultimate Southern Belle. Seriously! Such a LADY. Feminine through and through. Kind and charming and girlish, although she was already 60. Wafer thin with flawless skin. She could have passed for 40, but I was also surprised to hear she was "only" 70 when she died, because it felt as though she had been on TV forever.

The purpose of a stand-in is to be around when the actors aren't, so often we were the proverbial two ships passing in the night. But she always had a kind word for me, which may not sound like much, but trust me, many actresses don't have a word at all for their stand-in, particularly one who is 30 some years younger. Since she was 60ish, she had had it with the ridiculously long hours we worked on that show, so often she would go home and I would play her part for the other actor's coverage (close-ups). This gave me a chance to shine as an actress in front of the directors and producers, which led to me getting 3 on camera roles on the show.

My final role on Family Law was in what ended up as our final episode ever, and I had the great pleasure of fighting with Dixie in the scene. I played a nurse caring for Ernest Borgnine, and Dixie played his lawyer. My mother in law had two comments after watching that episode: first, "I didn't see you" (I was blonde at the time and she apparently didn't recognize me), and then, after rewinding and rewatching: "You were awfully snippy to Dixie Carter!".

Rest in peace, with love from your stand-in.