DRIVING MISS DIXIE – AT 9:59 P.M. ET:  The actress Dixie Carter has died.  She was a gifted actress, as is her husband, and survivor, Hal Halbrook. 

We received the following e-mail from one of our most loyal readers, John Harris, and I thought you might be interested:

I read this morning that Miss Dixie had passed.

I had the honor and pleasure of meeting and driving Miss Carter a
little over a year ago. She was in town for the Austin Film
Festival to attend her latest, and, as it turned out, her last
film, starring with her husband Mr. Holbrook.

I met her at the bottom of the escalator with a discrete sign
saying “DC." I saw her immediately, and she waved; a small woman in
slightly baggy clothes – her traveling clothes she told me later –
and said she hoped the sign was for her. I told her that of course
I recognized her, and I did. She was 69 and still beautiful.

We got in the car and headed into town and she told me she didn’t
feel well – too much traveling, she hated to fly, but she loved
to sing so she had to travel. She asked about me and I told her
some and we talked politics and show business and how they all
tied together, and how she really did get her head stuck in that
staircase scene. (The set carpenter had to cut her out.)

She had opinions about our new young president and it was no secret that
she was a conservative. But I’ll leave that to others. She told
stories and I listened and laughed. She asked for my number and I
gave her my card; she called Mr. Holbrook and told him to look for
me when he arrived the next morning. And he did. But this story is
about Dixie.

The next evening they went to the movie and the following morning
I picked her up at her hotel. But this time I took the black
stretch limo. When she came out of the hotel, the transformation
was complete – dressed to the nines, she looked years younger, and,
when she saw the stretch she said, “For me????” I took her bag and
said “Hey, all the big stars get the limo.” She laughed and
thanked me and got in. But then she moved up to the front of that
long car, right behind me so we could continue to talk. And talk
we did all the way to the airport. It was a good day.

I wish the best to Mr. Holbrook and her family. She will be missed.

Indeed. 

April 11, 20