Carol Sutton, Actress Featured in Steel Magnolias and Queen Sugar, Dead at 76 From COVID-19

New Orleans-based actress Carol Sutton, whose long career spanned film, stage, and television performances, has died at 76 from complications of the coronavirus.

Sutton had been hospitalized at the Touro Infirmary in New Orleans with a COVID-19 infection and died on Thursday night, reports WGNO ABC.

The veteran actress featured in numerous big name film, TV, and theater productions and was active in the entertainment industry for decades.

From the Times-Piscayne:

“Among actors in New Orleans, there was Carol Sutton – and there was everybody else,” said David Cuthbert, a retired Times-Picayune critic. “She opened her mouth, and out came truth. Wherever she was on stage, that was center stage.”

After making her acting debut in the late 1960s in Dashiki Project Theatre productions, Sutton appeared on stages around the city 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” and went on to roles in such movies as “Monster’s Ball,” “Ray,” “Steel Magnolias” and “The Help,” and in the television series “Tremé,” “True Detective” and “Lovecraft Country.”

Sutton also recently played the role of ‘Aunt Martha’ in the OWN series Queen Sugar, set in Louisiana.

“We celebrate the life of the stellar Carol Sutton. It was our honor to welcome this veteran actress of stage + screen to our show,” said Queen Sugar creator Ava DuVernay of Sutton’s death. “May she rise and rest in peace and power.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell also issued a statement in tribute to the actress.

“Carol Sutton was practically the Queen of New Orleans theater, having graced the stages across the city for decades,” she said. “We will always remember her commanding stage presence, her richly portrayed characters, and the warm heart she shared with her fellow cast and crew in productions such as ‘4000 Miles’ and ‘A Raisin in the Sun.’ May she rest in God’s perfect peace.”

Sutton was honored with a Big Easy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. She is survived by two children and five grandchildren.