Delta Burke

Delta Burke (born July 30, 1956) is an American actress, producer and author. From 1986 to 1991, she starred as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women, for which she received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.

Burke's other television credits include Filthy Rich (1982–83), Delta (1992–93), Women of the House (1995) and DAG (2000–01). Frederick Burke, an Orlando realtor, adopted her after marrying her mother. Burke has never met her biological father.

Burke graduated from Colonial High School in 1974 and won the senior superlative "Most Likely to Succeed." In 1972, she won the Miss Flame crown from the Orlando Fire Department and became Miss Flame for the state. In her senior year of high school, she won the Miss Florida title for 1974, and she was the youngest titleholder in pageant history. Burke won a talent scholarship from the Miss America Organization, allowing her to attend a two-year study program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Career

Early career In 1974, as part of winning Miss Florida, Burke appeared on the ABC television show Bozo the Clown, filmed in Orlando. A 2001 episode of Lost Treasures of NFL Films contains film footage of her appearance as Miss Florida at the World Football League's World Bowl that same year.

In 1980, Burke portrayed the role of the second Bonnie Sue Chisholm in the CBS western miniseries The Chisholms. She spent a year on Filthy Rich in 1982 playing wily young widow Kathleen Beck. After that, she played football-team owner Diane Barrow on 1st & Ten from 1984 to 1986.

Designing Women In 1986, Burke left 1st and Ten when she was cast as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women, a show created by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, who had previously cast Burke in her show Filthy Rich. The show was set at an interior design firm in Atlanta headed by four women, and Burke was one of the show's four female leads. (Dixie Carter, another of the leads, had been the lead actress on Filthy Rich.) The show struggled in the ratings and was briefly canceled after its first year, but in 1989 began to receive respectable ratings after being paired with the sitcom Murphy Brown. Burke became the show's breakout star and earned two consecutive nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1990 and 1991. She was the only lead female cast member of the show to be nominated.

In 1990, Burke publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the show during a televised interview with Barbara Walters and in interviews with other media outlets. She asserted on Entertainment Tonight that there was a labor dispute and that actors were often forced to work more than 15 hours per day, with executives even blocking the doors to keep actors on set. She also said that Carter, who had once been her close friend and maid of honor at her wedding to Gerald McRaney, was not speaking to her, as Carter sided with her bosses. At the end of the fifth season of Designing Women in 1991, Burke was fired from the show as a result of her contentious relations with Carter and Bloodworth-Thomason. When ratings plummeted, Burke became a brunette again. The series was canceled after one season. In 1995, Burke and Bloodworth-Thomason reconciled their differences, and Burke returned as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the Designing Women spinoff Women of the House (1995), but the show failed after one season.

It took more than a decade for Burke and Carter to reconcile, but Burke guest-starred on an episode of Family Law, a show on which Carter was a regular cast member.

Weight issues Since the early 1990s, Burke's weight has been a subject of discussion in the tabloid press.

Later career Burke has been a leading actress in a number of television films and had a supporting role in the Mel Gibson film What Women Want (2000). She was the third actress to play the role in the production after Harriet Harris and Terry Burrell. She played the role until February 2004 before being succeeded by her Designing Women costar Carter. Burke then played the role of Truvy in the original Broadway production of Steel Magnolias, playing the role for the show's entire four-month run from April 4—July 31, 2005.

Burke played Bella Horowitz during a five-episode Season 3 arc on Boston Legal as a former flame of William Shatner's character Denny Crane. She appeared in the Hallmark Channel film Bridal Fever, which aired on February 2, 2008.

In March 2012, Burke was cast in the ABC comedy pilot Counter Culture. However, after Burke fell while on set, production of the pilot was suspended and the show did not become a series.

Personal life Burke has been married to actor Gerald McRaney since May 28, 1989. They have no children together, although McRaney has adult children from his prior marriages. Burke and McRaney's primary residence is in Los Angeles, California, and they own homes in Telluride, Colorado and New Orleans.

Burke is a supporter of gay rights, and has worked with openly gay playwright and screenwriter Del Shores on many occasions, in Sordid Lives and Southern Baptist Sissies. Burke first became attached to the cause when attending acting school in London. and has compulsive hoarding syndrome, for which she has received therapy. She said: "At one time I had 27 storage units. I don't have a big enough house! My mom had it, it's my mother's fault. She saved the diaper I came home from the hospital in!"

Filmography Film and Television Year Title Role Notes 1978 Zuma Beach Terri Uncredited 1979 The Seekers Elizabeth Fletcher Kent TV miniseries Charleston Stella FarrellTV movie A Last Cry for Help Carol1980 The Chisholms Bonnie Sue Chisholm TV miniseries The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo Diane Stone Episode: "The Haunting of Orly Manor" 1981 Nero Wolfe Jean Wellmann Episode: "Murder by the Book" The Fall Guy Cantina Waitress Episode: "The Fall Guy" 1982 Rooster Laura DeVega TV movie The Fall Guy Bryna Episode: "Mighty Myron" 1982–1983 Filthy Rich Kathleen Beck 15 episodes 1983 Johnny Blue Joanne Kruger TV pilot episode Fantasy Island Gloria Ransom Episode: "The Devil Stick/Touch and Go" Murder Me, Murder You Paula Corey TV movie Gun Shy Clementine Episode: "Mail Order Mommy" Remington Steele Nancy Stinson Dannon Episode: "Altared Steele" 1983–1984 The Love Boat Andrea Sheppard 3 episodes 1984 Automan Rachel Innis Episode: "Unreasonable Facsimile" Mike Hammer Linda Sloane "Shots in the Dark" T. J. Hooker Diana Polnoi Episode: "Grand Theft Auto" 1984–1988 1st & Ten Diane Barrow 29 episodes 1985 Who's the Boss? Diane Wilmington Episode: "Paint Your Wagon" A Bunny's Tale Margie TV movie 1986–1991 Designing Women Suzanne Sugarbaker 120 episodes 1986 Hotel Sherry Episode: "Restless Nights" 1987 Simon & Simon Christy Keating Episode: "Desperately Seeking Dacody" 1988 Where the Hell's That Gold? Germany TV movie 1991 Saturday Night Live Herself / Host Episode: "Delta Burke/Chris Isaak" Love and Curses... And All That Jazz Desiree TV movie 1992 Day-O Grace Connors 1992–1993 Delta Delta Bishop 17 episodes 1994 The Mighty Jungle Viola (voice) 26 episodes Diagnosis: Murder Maggie Donahue / Sister Michael Episode: "Sister Michael Wants You" 1995 Simon & Simon: In Trouble Again Mrs. Heiser TV movie Women of the House Suzanne Sugarbaker 13 episodes 1996–2001 Touched by an Angel Julia Fitzgerald / Diana Winslow 3 episodes 1996 A Promise to Carolyn Debra TV movie Maternal Instincts Tracy Horton Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Myrtle Beech Episode: "Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding" Promised Land Julia Fitzgerald Episode: "Homecoming" 1997 Melanie Darrow Melanie Darrow TV movie 1998–1999 Any Day Now Teresa O'Brien Episodes: "I Feel Awful", "Music from My Life" 1999–2001 Popular Cherry Cherry 6 episodes 2000 Sordid Lives Noleta Nethercott What Women Want Eve 2000–2001 DAG Judith Whitman 17 episodes 2001 Dangerous Child Sally Cambridge TV movie 2002 St. Sass Billie Lang Family Law Marcie Dell Episode: "Ties That Bind" Hansel & Gretel Stepmother 2003 Going For Broke Laura Bancroft TV movie The Designing Women Reunion Herself TV special Good Boy! Barbara Ann (voice) 2006 The Year Without a Santa Claus Mrs. Claus TV movie 2006–2007 Boston Legal Bella Horowitz 5 episodes 2007 The Wedding Bells Sheila Pontell Episode: "For Whom the Bells Toll" 2008 Bridal Fever Dahlia Marchand TV movie 2009 Drop Dead Diva Tessa Wells Episode: "Make Me a Match" 2012 Counter Culture Nonie TV pilot episode 2019 Dolly Parton's Heartstrings Ellie Holder Episode: "If I Had Wings"

Nonfiction Delta Style: Eve Wasn't a Size 6 and Neither Am I (1998, St. Martin's Press; )