Subscribe to the Magazine & Save Sign Up for Our Newsletter

See What the Cast of Designing Women Is Up to Today

By Linda Rodgers April 21, 2016

Tags:

then and now,
TV

The four ladies and one man of Sugarbakers & Associates were on the air from 1986 until 1993, delighting millions and racking up awards. One fan: Dolly Parton, who guest-starred as herself in an episode!

Dixie Carter

Getty images
Share this:
Dixie Carter: Julia Sugarbaker
Dixie Carter 2008

Getty images
Share this:
Dixie Carter died in 2010, when she was 70, from endometrial cancer.
Jean Smart

Getty images
Share this:
Jean Smart: Charlene Frazier-Stillfield
Jean Smart 2016

Getty images
Share this:
Smart was in FX's Fargo (2015) and is now appearing as Katherine Miller in Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce.
Delta Burke Then

Getty images
Share this:
Delta Burke: Suzanne Sugarbaker
Delta Burke 2010

Getty images
Share this:
These days Burke keeps a low profile and sticks close to home in California and her husband Gerald McRaney (House of Cards).
Annie Potts

Getty images
Share this:
Annie Potts: Mary Jo Shively
Annie Potts Now

Getty images
Share this:
You'll be able to catch Potts this summer in the return of Ghostbusters. She was in the 1984 original!
Julia Duffy

Getty images
Share this:
Julia Duffy: Allison Sugarbaker
Julia Duffy

Getty images
Share this:
You can catch Duffy on the comedy-horror TV series, Scream Queens.
Meshach Taylor

Getty images
Share this:
Meshach Taylor: Anthony Bouvier
Meshach Taylor 2012

Getty images
Share this:
Taylor died in 2014, from colon cancer.
Judith Ivey

Getty images
Share this:
Judith Ivey: Bonnie Jean (BJ) Poteet
Judith Ivey 2016

Getty images
Share this:
Ivey plays Mrs. Asher on ABC's The Family.