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: Barash is a supporting actress onscreen from age six in 1971.

Trivia: Over her long career, character actress Eileen Heckart has distinguished herself on stage, television, and in feature films. Tall and thin with sharp angular features, she often plays outspoken, strong-willed, and highly intelligent women. Fans of The Mary Tyler Moore show from the 1970s will remember Heckart for playing Mary's brassy Aunt Flo. Trained at the American Theater Wing following studies at Ohio State University, Heckart was on Broadway in the early '40s and appeared in numerous major productions. For the 1957-1958 theater season, Heckart earned a New York Drama Critics Award for her work in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. She has won six Tony nominations during her stage career and in the late '90s was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. Heckart began her sporadic television career in 1952 and made her feature-film debut with Miracle in the Rain (1956). She earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination that year for her work in The Bad Seed (1956); she was also awarded a Golden Globe for the film. In 1972, she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar in 1976 for her role in Butterflies Are Free. In 1967, Heckert received an Emmy for Win Me a Place at Forest Lawn. She won her second one in 1994 for a 1993 appearance on the sitcom Love & War. In addition to her many kudos, Heckart has also been awarded three honorary doctorates.