NEW ORLEANS — Editor's note: The related video above was published in March 2019.
New Orleans actress Carol Dickerson Sutton has died after being hospitalized with the coronavirus. She was credited in more than 100 films, most notably for her work in "Steel Magnolias" (1989), "Ray" (2004), "Monster's Ball" (2001) and "The Help" (2011).
Sutton died Thursday at Touro Infirmary from COVID-19 complications. She was 76.
"Our very own Carol Dickerson Sutton, the incomparable Actress of Stage and Film, has died tonight due to the COVID-19 virus. New Orleans Theatre Community is in mourning," the Anthony Bean Community Theater & Acting School shared on Facebook early Friday.
Sutton, a fixture on stages in her native New Orleans, built a steady career on the big and small screens, including in the TV series “Queen Sugar.”
“The world may recognize her from her performances in movies and on TV — whether it’s ‘Treme’ or ‘Claws,’ or ‘Runaway Jury’ or ‘Queen Sugar’ — but we will always remember her commanding stage presence, her richly portrayed characters, and the warm heart she shared with her fellow cast and crew,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said in a statement.
After making her acting debut in the late 1960s in Dashiki Project Theatre productions, Sutton appeared in productions such as “The Last Madam,” “Native Tongues” and “A Raisin in the Sun.”
She moved to television in 1974 with “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” with Cicely Tyson and had roles in “In the Heat of the Night” and the TV movie “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” with Avery Brooks.
Her recent TV credits included “Scream Queens,” the 2016 remake of the series “Roots,” “Treme,” “True Detective” and “Lovecraft Country.”
Her film work includes roles like playing a policewoman in “The Pelican Brief” with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington and a nurse opposite Sally Field, Dolly Parton and Shirley MacLaine in “Steel Magnolias.” She was a judge in “The Big Easy” with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin.
Ava DuVernay, creator of the OWN series “Queen Sugar,” tweeted: “It was our honor to welcome this veteran actress of stage and screen to our show as Aunt Martha in Episode 409, ‘Stare at the Same Fires.’ May she rise and rest in peace and power.”
Survivors include a son, Archie; a daughter, Aunya; a brother, Oris Buckner; a sister, Adrienne Jopes; and five grandchildren.
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The Associated Press contributed.