Camilla Carr, “Designing Women” Star, Dies at 83 from Complications of Alzheimer’s and Dislocated Hip
- - Camilla Carr, “Designing Women” Star, Dies at 83 from Complications of Alzheimer’s and Dislocated Hip
Desiree AnelloFebruary 9, 2026 at 12:18 AM
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Camilla Carr in a ‘Designing Women’ scene (1987)
Camilla Carr died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease and a dislocated hip on Wednesday, Feb. 4
Along with starring in various S.F. Brownrigg-directed cult horror films, the actress was known for her memorable role in Designing Women, in which she portrayed a woman with controversial views of the AIDS epidemic
“It was a sh---y character, but she did a great job for an important cause,” said Carr’s son, Caley O’Dwyer
Camilla Carr, the cult horror actress also known for playing a controversial character on Designing Women, has died. She was 83.
The actress died on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at her home in El Paso, Texas, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease and a dislocated hip, her son, Caley O’Dwyer, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Carr began her acting career in the early 1970s, appearing in films like A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970), Don’t Look in the Basement (1973) and Logan’s Run (1976).
After portraying an unhinged patient who kills a nurse in her first S.F. Brownrigg-directed cult horror film, Carr went on to collaborate with the director on two more films: 1974’s Poor White Trash II and 1977’s Keep My Grave Open.
Camilla Carr in a "Scum of the Earth" scene (1974)
Alamy Stock Photo
She also starred in 34 episodes of the NBC soap opera Another World, which ran from 1963 to 1999, as Rita Connelly.
Carr shared the screen with her first husband, Hugh Feagin, on numerous occasions after they met at Theatre Three in Dallas. After they ended their marriage, the actress went on to marry Oscar-winning screenwriter Edward Anhalt until their 1976 divorce.
One of Carr’s most memorable roles came in October 1987 when she made a guest appearance on the CBS sitcom Designing Women. During the season 2 episode, Carr played a woman named Mrs. Imogene Salinger, who believed that gay men contracting AIDS were deserving of their fate.
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“I don’t like to hurt anyone’s feelings, but if these boys hadn’t been doing what they do, they wouldn’t be getting what’s coming to them now,” her character said to Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) in the episode, shortly after learning of a funeral for a young interior designer portrayed by Tony Goldwyn. “As far as I’m concerned, this disease has one thing going for it — it’s killing all the right people.”
Following its release, the show’s creator, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, earned an Emmy nomination for penning the episode, which was inspired by her mother’s death after she contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion.
Upon reflecting on his mother’s role in the episode, O’Dwyer told The Hollywood Reporter, “It was a sh---y character, but she did a great job for an important cause.”
In the following years, Carr went on to star on three episodes of CBS’ Falcon Crest before playing Maxine in a production of Tennesee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.
After taking a nearly three-decade hiatus from acting, Carr returned to the screen for 2015’s Don’t Look in the Basement 2, which was directed by Brownrigg’s son, Anthony Brownrigg, and marked her final project.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
