Dixie Carter, the tough-love mother hen on Designing Women who became the mother-in-law from hell on Desperate Housewives, died Saturday at age 70. Her publicist says she passed away in the morning but gave no further details.

"This has been a terrible blow to our family," husband and frequent costar Hal Holbrook said in a statement. "We would appreciate everyone understanding that this is a private family tragedy."

Aside from playing the straight-shooting Julia Sugarbaker on CBS' Designing Women opposite Delta Burke, Annie Potts and Jean Smart, Carter appeared in such series as Family Law and Diff'rent Strokes and scored an Emmy nomination for a guest stint on Desperate Housewives as Marcia Cross' cantankerous mother-in-law, Gloria Hodge.

Carter was also an accomplished singer and Broadway star, whose credits included Thoroughly Modern Millie, Pal Joey and Master Class.

She and Holbrook began dating after working together in the 1980 TV movie The Killing of Randy Webster and married four years later.

It was the third matrimonial go-round for both, and it proved enduring both off- and onscreen. He had a recurring role as her boyfriend on Designing Women and the two starred together in what was her final project, the 2009 film That Evening Sun. Marcus Errico