CBS, 1986-1991

Designing Women premiered in 1986 and featured four Southern ladies who ran an interior design firm in Atlanta. The comedy series was heavily laced with feminist issues and featured the perfect chemisty of characters and intelligent, vital writing at the hands of creator and scribe Linda Bloodworth-Thomason.

The characters consisted of Suzanne Sugarbaker -- a former beauty queen with a slew of ex-husbands, Julia Sugarbaker -- her left liberal 'big-shouldered' elder sister, Mary Jo Shively -- the timid divorcee and mother of two, and Charlene Frazier -- the naive and trusting office manager with a nack for getting involved with the wrong men. The immediate chemistry of the ensemble cast and the brilliant scripting eventually brought the series the attention and following that it deserved, breaking new ground in a male-dominated industry.

Cast as Charlene Frazier, Jean Smart was the only actress of the four not originally from the South, but surprised critics gave her credit for the most natural Southern drawl of the cast.

"There was something very appealing about Charlene," Jean says. "I'm used to playing ambitious women or villainesses or hookers, and here was a character who was from a great rural family, traditionally religious, innocent and far less jaded than I. It'a a part of me that I haven't been able to express very often. Innocence is like virginity. Once you lose it, you can't get it back."

For Jean, playing Charlene had one other dividend; She met her husband Richard Gilliland when he guest-starred as Mary Jo's boyfriend. They were wed in June, 1987, and their son, Connor, was born in October of 1989.

Designing Women proved to be successful and lucrative for Jean, but -- a true actor at heart -- she chose to leave the series after five seasons to pursue other acting interests and spend more time with her family.