New Orleans stage and screen actor Carol Sutton dies at 76

Actor Carol Sutton, a fixture on stages in her native New Orleans who built a steady career on the big and small screens including roles in the 1989 comedy “Steel Magnolias” and the TV series “Queen Sugar,” has died from complications from COVID-19, according to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. Sutton was 76.

“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,” Cantrell said in a statement. Sutton died Thursday at Touro Infirmary.

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.”