Trivia: The epitomical "Southern belle," radiant with finesse, grace, and an aura of down-home hospitality, Tennessee-born actress and chanteuse Dixie Carter received her broadest exposure on television thanks to two memorable sitcom roles: that of TV exercise hostess Maggie McKinney, spunky romantic partner and wife of millionaire Philip Drummond (Conrad Bain), on Diff'rent Strokes, and that of Julia Sugarbaker, Atlanta fashion designer extraordinaire, on the long-running Thomason-produced sitcom Designing Women.Carter was born in McLemoresville, TN, the daughter of two grocery-store proprietors. As a young lady, she projected a heightened gift for song. She studied music at Rhodes College in Memphis, then moved to Manhattan in 1963 to launch herself as a musical-theater star, but her career stalled for seven years given her 1967 marriage to Wall Street financier Arthur Carter (no blood relation to her; the common surname was a coincidence). Carter returned to the stage in 1974, with pivotal roles in such productions as Fathers and Sons and Pal Joey, and landed the part of Brandy Henderson in the soap opera The Edge of Night. In 1979, the actress moved to Los Angeles to commence film work. In the mean time, the marriage to Carter, and then a subsequent marriage, to Broadway star George Hearn, dissolved.By the late '70s and early '80s, Carter started racking up occasional bit parts and guest appearances in such series as Lou Grant, Out of the Blue, and Quincy, M.E. The Diff'rent Strokes part (which lasted only one season -- Carter withdrew from the series and was replaced at the start of the 1985-1986 season by cover girl and one-time Miss America Mary Ann Mobley) represented her highest billing up through that time. Then came the Sugarbaker role. Carter was one of the few members of the ensemble (alongside Annie Potts and Meshach Taylor) to actually remain with the program through the end of its run (in 1993), and fans continued to indelibly associate her with the series even after it wrapped. In the mean time, Carter's third husband, actor Hal Holbrook (who signed for a supporting role alongside his wife on Designing Women), encouraged her to resuscitate her singing career, and she mounted a well-received cabaret act, modeling her approach to old standards after the esteemed Mabel Mercer.Carter's resumé of onscreen work also included appearances in such long-form projects as the feature The Killing of Randy Webster (1981) and the miniseries Dazzle (1995). She gained additional acclaim and recognition with her portrayal of Gloria Hodge on the prime-time black comedy series Desperate Housewives. Carter died of endometrial cancer at age 70 in April 2010.

Trivia: Refined comedic actor Meshach Taylor was most well known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS series Designing Women (1986-1993) and as the flamboyant Hollywood Montrose in the fantasy comedy features Mannequin and Mannequin 2: On the Move. He started his career by touring in national theater companies and appearing on the TV series Buffalo Bill with Dabney Coleman. He has been in several made-for-TV movies, including the Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen title Double, Double, Toil and Trouble. Some of his feature films included the sci-fi adventure Explorers, the Susanna Hoffs vehicle The Allnighter, and the Kid 'N Play movie Class Act. In 1993, he joined the cast of Dave's World as Harry Anderson's neighbor, Sheldon. After hosting his very own series on HGTV, The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor, he appeared on Broadway as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast. In addition to being a regular panelist on the game show To Tell the Truth, he also appeared in the feature film Friends and Family, a comedy about a literally gay mafia. He had a recurring role on the Nickelodeon sitcom Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, playing the school principal. Taylor had four children with his wife, veteran General Hospital actress Bianca Ferguson. He died in 2014, at age 67.

Trivia: Born in Missouri and educated at the University of Oklahoma, Alice Ghostley created a sensation in her first Broadway production, New Faces of 1952. In the company of such powerhouse co-stars as Paul Lynde, Robert Clary and Carol Lawrence, Ghostley stole the show with her plaintive renditions of the satirical ballads "The Boston Beguine" and "Time for Tea." Within a year of New Faces, she was headlined in the film version of that popular revue and was cast as a regular on the network-TV series Freedom Ring. Ghostley has been convulsing audiences ever since, playing a rich variety of man-chasing bachelorettes, overprotective mothers and dotty neighbors. While most of her film appearances have been in comedies (Viva Max!, The Graduate, Grease), Ghostley proved quite effective in the comparatively straight role of Stephanie Crawford in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). In 1965, she won a Tony award for her performance in the Broadway seriocomedy The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. In addition, Ghostley has been a regular or semi-regular on a multitude of TV series: The Jackie Gleason Show, Car 54 Where Are You, Captain Nice, The Jonathan Winters Show, The Golddiggers, Designing Women and a host of others. She is most fondly remembered for her portrayal of bumbling witch Esmerelda on the long-running (1964-72) sitcom Bewitched. On both this series and 1972's Temperatures Rising, Alice Ghostley was reunited with her old New Faces cohort, Paul Lynde. Ghostley died of colon cancer at age 81 in September 2007.

Trivia: Texas native Judith Ivey studied acting at Illinois State University, and began her acting career in the same state shortly afterward; by 1974, Ivey had debuted in a Chicago production of The Sea, and would continue to build her resumé until her move to New York City in the late '70s. A series of on- and off-Broadway performances met her there, as did two Tony awards (the first for her largely nude performance in Steaming [1983], and the second for her role as an abused go-go dancer in Hurlyburly [1985]). Known for her Southern charm and distinctive, rather nasal, voice, Ivey could be seen in film roles throughout the 1980s, appearing alongside Steve Martin in The Lonely Guy, Paul Newman in the family drama Harry and Son, Gene Wilder in The Woman in Red, and in the role of the outspoken best friend of Susan Sarandon in Compromising Positions (1985). The actress also found a great deal of success on the small screen -- Ivey starred in television productions of The Long, Hot Summer (1985), Dixie: Changing Habits (1985), We Are the Children (1987), and Decoration Day (1990) before landing several prominent sitcom roles. In 1991, Ivey returned to her Texas roots for NBC's Down Home, though she found more success playing wealthy widow B.J. Poteet on the final season of the long-running sitcom Designing Women (also NBC). Though Ivey continued to make regular appearances on television (including a performance on the Emmy-winning series Frasier), she found moderate success in several films. In 1997, Ivey played the well-to-do mother of Celine (Cameron Diaz) in Danny Boyle's A Life Less Ordinary; the same year, she would play supporting roles in Washington Square and The Devil's Advocate with Al Pacino. After appearing in several inconsequential films throughout the late '90s, Ivey was featured in Rose Red, Stephen King's popular television miniseries. In 2003, she had a prominent role in the independant film What Alice Found, which won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. She could next be seen alongside Maggie Gyllenhaal, Elizabeth McGovern, and Peter Sarsgaard in 2004's In God's Hands.

Trivia: Character actor Karen has had a 40-year career as an actor. He made his Broadway bow with Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Elia Kazan. Since then, he has worked continuously in theater, television and film, with such greats as his idol Buster Keaton, and on up to director Oliver Stone. His best-known films include Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Return of the Living Dead II (1988). Karen has also appeared in All the President's Men (1976), China Syndrome (1979), Poltergeist (1982), and Wall Street (1987). He was a regular on Eight is Enough (1977-81), starred in the science fiction series The Powers of Matthew Star as Major Wymore (1983) and had a recurring role on the cable series The Larry Sanders Show. Karen took on a series of small roles in notable films throughout the early 2000s; among his credits include Any Given Sunday (1999), Thirteen Days (2000), and Mulholland Dr. (2001). He played a supporting role alongside Will Smith and Thandie Newton in the 2006 drama The Pursuit of Happyness, and appeared in Superman Returns the same year. He worked with Chevy Chase and Christopher Lloyd in director Gary J. Tunnicliffe's adaptation of Jack and the Beanstalk in 2009, and took a small part in 2010's psychological drama Sympathy for Delicious.