Delta Burke & Gerald McRaney

Where's the sex tape?

What's up with her jaw and weird cheek implants?

McRaney = big Trumpster.

What was her own series Delta like? Awful?

Aw she looks like Marsha Mason now.

More like Cherry Jones

Donald and Melania also find them charming, OP.

Poor Delta looks like an Asian Joker now.

Delta’s head looks huge, like a Dick Tracy movie villain.

Why do these Hollywood actresses always get that awful "Beverly Hills Housewife" lift?

Don't they realize it doesn't make them look younger? It just makes them look like they've had lousy plastic surgery.

Have McRaney tell you about his caged animal "hunts" sometime. May he rot in hell.

TRUMP supporters and animal killers. McRaney likes those hunts where the animals just stand there so they can be shot.

Love her, hate him.

Wouldn't be surprised to learn that he's a feeder. Probably encouraged the plastic surgery, too.

Supposedly Delta had severe depression which caused her to withdraw from acting for seven years. She only recently started performing again. I also heard that they had a business manager/accountant who made off with a huge amount of their earnings during the best years of their careers. They haven't had the best time of it.

OMG it’s so creepy you started this thread OP because I was just thinking of her literally a few minutes ago and then I see this thread was at the top of DL!😱

I don’t know that they are Trumpkins — Delta is a great LGBT ally. They are Republicans. Do we know for sure that they are idiot Republicans? Del Shores and Delta were close and she was also close to Leslie Jordan.

[quote]Delta is a great LGBT ally.

A person is NOT a great LGBT ally if they are voting for anti-gay politicians.

[quote]They are Republicans. Do we know for sure that they are idiot Republicans?

There is no difference, dear.

I've always had a bad feeling about him. Don't like him at all. He plays gruff and/or evil characters a lot (House of Cards, Deadwood), but you can tell when the characterization comes easily to an actor. Still, he seems to make Delta happy, so that's something in his favor.

why did she go so crazy on Designing Women?

One of best things Delta Burke did recently (from appearances) is stop coloring her hair dark brunette, and begin to embrace grey/white hair.

Her hair was already starting to thin by middle age (age, genetics...), but continuously coloring hair can take a toll. Especially in the battle to cover grey or mostly white hair which requires 20vol permanent color with some sort of alkaline base with enough power to open cuticle.

You can see in this picture how thin and wispy Delta's hair looked.

As a young woman you can see why Delta Burke won beauty pageants.

This is not a good look for either of them......

This is a much better look...

She doesn't even look like the same person.

Love Delta. She was a hoot!

She had a very natural comic timing that's hard to come by. One of those things you either have or you don't. It makes me sad that her best years were taking away by mental instability and weight issues.

Looks like Delta got her filler from the same "doctor" as Prscilla Presley and other vain celebrity fools.

R23 He looked old even then.

Delta Ramona Leah Burke (born July 30, 1956) 63 years old; Orlando, Florida

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Gerald Lee McRaney (born August 19, 1947) 72 years old; Collins, Mississippi.

It’s amazing how Delta’s career just disappeared after DW. Everything she attempted afterwards flopped, yet GM keeps getting work playing the same boring character in hit shows.

Maybe she should partner with Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem to jump start her career and get healthy at the same time.

R31 Those age spots!🤮

Mr. Burns has age spots, too.

Their episode of Dolly Parton's Heartstrings "If I Had Wings," was my favorite one.

She should be a judge on Drag Race

R32. Delta's starring projects sort of fizzled; however, she continued to work steadily with guest and character roles up until 2009. Then again in 2012 and then 2019. Check her Wikipedia page.

He was fine as fuck back in the day. And she was stunning.

R38 You aren’t picky, are you?

R19 if only this were documented somewhere

[quote]She should be a judge on Drag Race

That seriously would be at least something for her to do!

I'm surprised her DW spin off Women of the House didn't do better. The on-screen talent was there, Delta Burke, Terri Garr and Patricia Heaton. Though they did screw up with Suzanne's backstory and family, which is unforgivable considering the same people created and wrote both. Also, the premise was wrong because widows of House members are not appointed to finish their husband's term, that is a Senate tradition. House seats are left vacant until an election can be held.

What R37 said!

Delta Burke got her own series "Delta" in 1992 about a year after being fired from DW, it flopped and was cancelled. DB got another chance to star in her own television show with "Women of the House" in 1995, and it bombed as well.

Delta Burke does have great talent comedy wise; but she needs the right sort of ensemble and scripts to play off her character. That is where she shone as Suzanne Sugarbaker.

If right project came along and was handled well could see Delta Burke and Leslie Jordan doing something.

She was great in Sordid Lives but even that was over 15 years ago now.

R43 She was pretty good as the First Lady on DAG, but it didn't last either. She wasn't the "star" on it, but she was the female lead. You could tell the producers was hoping people would respond to the pairing of her and David Alan Grier the same as her and Meshach Taylor.

R43 Nobody said she hasn’t been working. People are wondering why everything she does flops or is just a guest role while boring Gerald keeps getting recurring roles on hit shows.

It’s puzzling how how Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with her.

Wow, Delta looks great!

[quote] It’s puzzling how how Hollywood doesn’t know what to do with her.

Hollywood never knows what to do with beauties once they get old or fat. I've heard people discussing what Marilyn Monroe's career would have been like if she had lived, and the fact is it probably wouldn't have been great, and she wouldn't be as iconic. Once she got slightly older or gained a few pounds Hollywood wouldn't know how to cast her.

DB also has the problem of very publically battling mental health issues. Many producers might be willing to take a chance on a guest appearance but many won't build a show around someone they think is going to have problems.

She was supposed to be in a pilot about 8 or 9 years ago and supposedly she hurt herself on set, but there were rumors that even in a few days of filming that she'd not quite had it together.

R46

Actors (as in men) have always had it much easier as they age in terms of finding/being offered roles. Also think audiences and or perhaps even the "suits" are more forgiving to actors versus actresses as both get older.

There are more roles out there for "good ole boys", than there are for aged faded beauty queens.

I remember her being interviewed by Diana Sawyer back in 2008 after she went to a psychiatric hospital, and she said before she checked into the hospital she had been in bed for two weeks because she was so depressed and on five different medications that weren’t working.

RWNJs. Pass.

Ryan Murphy needs to put her in something ASAP!

No.

She really shined as mentioned upthread when she was in an ensemble.

But either her husband or her managers told her she was The Star, and that pretty much derailed her career, permanently.

She looks like Roseanne. :(

There was talk of a Designing Women reboot, with Delta as the only returning regular, and Annie and Jean as recurring. It could be fun. They should make the "Julia" character a loudmouth Southern gay man. Maybe create a never before seen nephew or cousin named Julian.

Why didn't you just post this in the other Delta Burke thread?

Or is this a stealth Trumpster thread because McRaney is an alt-right piece of shit?

Just watching episodes of DW where Suzanne Sugarbaker was "the star" you easily see it was because of playing off ensemble cast members.

Delta Burke is great as part of a sitcom cast because the show is just that; you put Delta Burke into a situation that bounces off others and she's great. One on one things aren't so much.

R55 is Ryan Murphy.

[quote]They should make the "Julia" character a loudmouth Southern gay man.

Yeah just what we need - to keep perpetuating the stereotypes.🙄

What did Delta do to her face, I didn't recognize her.

R62 I didn't say a queeny Southern version of Jack McFarland. You can be a loudmouth know it all, without being a gay stereotype. I'd love to see a gay, or bi, man giving the forceful monologues like Julia, who was the moral center of the show.

[quote]Ryan Murphy needs to put her in something ASAP!

He already did. Popular. She was Cherry Cherry, Mary Cherry's mother.

Are they still sexually active?

[quote] There was talk of a Designing Women reboot, with Delta as the only returning regular, and Annie and Jean as recurring. It could be fun. They should make the "Julia" character a loudmouth Southern gay man. Maybe create a never before seen nephew or cousin named Julian.

I was hoping something would come of that but it was 2 years ago, unlikely to happen now. ABC commissioned a script but I don't think it ever made it to pilot.

Also, after the struggles with other reboots like W&G and (especially) Murphy Brown, perhaps they decided to leave well enough alone.

Poor Delta. Her head looks like a bag of croquette balls.

I took my mom, years ago, to Cafe Carlyle to watch Delta sing. We sat next to Gerald, who himself sat alone. Handsome. But had no idea until now he was a turd.

Hollywood doesn't know what to do with women in general after 30, but they really don't know what to do with a beautiful woman who's funny. It boggles their mind completely and they don't understand how someone could possibly be both.

R70 Her career decline had more to do with being a bipolar mess and difficult than being beautiful.

[quote] I took my mom, years ago, to Cafe Carlyle to watch Delta sing. We sat next to Gerald, who himself sat alone. Handsome. But had no idea until now he was a turd.

She actually sang live? She couldn’t sing well on her sitcom with Earl Holliman and those were touched up vocals. She pretty much admitted it when the show premiered and argued that her character was an aspiring singer, not necessarily any good.

She sings??? Maybe she should record a dance single for gays and see if she has any success.😄 Can’t you picture her dancing and singing to an electronic dance sound?

Delta was in a two part Touched by an Angel with our Faye called Shallow Water.

Most of Delta's scenes were with Faye.

It was delicious.

“Suzanne - I’m not mad at Noelle...I’m mad at the dirt!”

I’d love to watch a sitcom starring them.

R76 No thanks. Gerald isn’t funny IMO. Wasn’t funny on Major Dad. I’d rather watch them do a reality show.

I think r76 was talking about Delta and Faye?

I feel bad for Delta and I don’t want to imagine what led to the changes in her appearance.

Every time I see a Designing Women episode I wonder why her career was limited to that show. She was so fucking FUNNY. She never gave a bad line delivery. She was ridiculous and she really embodied her character, much more deeply, I thought, than most sitcom actors do. I am bummed that she’s not remembered among TV’s funniest women alongside Lucille Ball, Betty, Rue and Bea, Megan Mulally, Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley. I think she holds her own among them all in that show.

Delta Burke's early career sort of made her a one trick pony. Her character in "Filthy Rich" was not much different than Suzanne Sugarbaker.

What's that line about "should have gone to an acting school?".

This is probably one main reasons DB's career hit the skids; she was always playing beautiful young southern belles. Some daughter of Big Daddy, who was a beauty pageant winner (a big thing in the south), went on to Ole Miss and was Delta Gamma or Alpha Delta Pi. Once Delta's looks went it's like people stopped wanting to be bothered. But then again what was DB offering them as an actress to get them interested?

Look at Lee Meriwether, another stacked former beauty queen who went on to have a long and extensive career in television. Granted Ms. Meriwether didn't have Delta Burke's emotional baggage (or weight issues), but she proved it could be done.

R80 But she was equally funny when she was a thin beauty pageant type and when she gained a lot of weight. I know it was hard on her personally, but when she was told to walk around with a hog on a leash, she made that shit ridiculously funny.

He's a one note character actor at best. She could do a limited sort of light comedy. Not much here--just a couple right wingers w/o a lot of talent.

I dunno.....

Many actors view typecasting as kiss of death, and seek something different after doing one role long enough.

DW was just before my time, but I have seen it in syndication here and there. It certainly was a niche vehicle. Was Burke seen to be the "star" of the show at the time? Potts and Smart have carved out much better careers and both (Smart in particular) maintained their beauty for decades. Delta was cute at the beginning of course, but even then trended towards pudgy from a Hollywood perspective (I think it had more to do with her facial structure than body - at least at the beginning). Her personality is certainly infectious however and I really enjoy seeing her on screen.

[quote] It certainly was a niche vehicle.

I wouldn't call it niche. It was a top 35 show for the first three seasons, then a top 25 show, and top 10 for two seasons. That is pretty mainstream, especially since there was no streaming and cable wasn't as big.

I remember Delta saying that during DW, she always had anxiety attacks and Meshach Taylor would have to come to her dressing room to hold her until she calmed down. Between the anxiety attacks, the depression, and the weight problems, it sounds like she’s had a lot of issues. Hope she’s doing better these days.

Always heard it was Dixie Carter who had to go in and coax Delta Burke out of her dressing room.

OTOH you see? What show will want to put up with that sort of thing even if only rumors?

Is Delta still close with Dixie and Meshach?

Back in 2002, Ryan Murphy actually made a pilot with Delta as the lead for The WB. It was called St. Sass. I think she was going to play Mrs. Garrett on crack.

It wasn't really a "water cooler" show, so it probably was more of a niche show. It also got kindof tiresome, ratings aside.

I loved Women of the House.

Especially how they kept switching between Julie Hagerty and Valerie Mahaffey in the same role.

Patricia Heaton pretty much played herself.

R90 It was specifically designed(pun intended) as a watercooler show. That was the purpose of shows like it and Murphy Brown. So that the next day you would be discussing whatever topic Julia went on a Terminator rant about the night before.

I was a child and so the water cooler thing doesn’t apply, but I watched Designing Women every week with my family, along with Murphy Brown, the Golden Girls, etc. I loved Designing Women and the Golden Girls especially. Of them, I loved Dorothy, Julia and Suzanne the most. I was such a gay kid!

My mom hated Julia Sugarbaker’s holier-than-thouness, and we used to squabble over her soliloquies.

My whole family loved Bernice, though.

So aside from the politics of the day and any watercooler appeal, Designing Women as far as I knew was a very mainstream, family-friendly sitcom. It had a lot of appeal based just on the wacky and thoughtful characters and the funny writing (Noel, Julia getting her head stuck in a bannister, Bernice wearing a Christmas tree skirt, Mary Jo becoming possessed by the power of giant fake boobs are a few standout memories).

And it also imparted a lot of 80s sitcom lessons that made big impacts on me: Learning about how the Ray Dons of the world treat women. The celebratory jazz funeral of the gay guy who died from AIDS and Julia telling the evil woman that if God gave out AIDS as a punishment, she’d be the first one to get it. Charlene’s friend who turned out to be a prostitute and shamed Charlene for judging her as less than human. Julia’s rage about an article from the New York Times claiming southern women eat dirt. The bizarre and wonderful evolution of the loving relationship between Suzanne and Anthony.

The relationship between Julia and Suzanne as sisters was completely believable, too. They seemed like polar opposites, with Julia the smart and responsible one and Suzanne vain and lazy, but then you’d get to see in rare scenes that Julia also could be very vain and insecure and traditional in some ways and Suzanne was smarter and stronger than she seemed. The sisters always insulted one another but no one loved the other more than her sister. I just think it’s remarkable the way they gelled as a believable sibling pair from the pilot.

To me as a kid, the show was about the Sugarbakers with Charlene and Mary Jo serving as their sidekicks. So when they ran Delta off, it just wasn’t very good any longer. That’s one way Designing Women is like Golden Girls: the ensemble made the show, and when one left and was replaced, it just was not magical any longer.

I think it was just a really thoughtfully written show. Characters on series today seem so underdeveloped to me by comparison.

No one ever discussed this show in the workplace. The show was basically the same every week---a rant from Dixie Carter, some silliness from Delta, cringeworthiness from Taylor and his Minstrel-y part. An amusing show but not one that demanded you watch every week.

[quote] No one ever discussed this show in the workplace.

I guess it depended on the workplace and location. I started elementary school toward the middle of the show's run. I remember hearing the teachers and aides discussing it every week. One reason it was especially well liked in the South was because even if you didn't agree with the politics, it was refreshing to see Southerners depicted as intelligent educated people. That was rare and groundbreaking.

[quote]I also heard that they had a business manager/accountant who made off with a huge amount of their earnings during the best years of their careers

Was his name Reggie MacDawson?

He doesn’t seem like a stupid man, so someone please explain for me. Romney, ok, I can see that. Bush, well, I guess.

Trump? Come on for fuck’s sake. REALLY?

R97 One reason might be that McRaney is a huge supporter of the 2nd. Amendment, he has done NRA commercials since 1987. Gun rights have become like abortion, in that the two parties have basically staked out strongly opposite positions. If your primary issue is protecting gun rights, Trump and the GOP is your only choice. If your primary issue is gun control, the Democratic Party is your only choice. Of course there are third parties, as well, but most people don't believe they can be elected and voting for them only helps the other side.

Most people decide who to vote for on a variety of issues, but there are also a significant number of people who are basically motivated by single issues. I know a woman, who dislikes most everything the GOP stands for, but the one issue she cares about more than anything is ending abortion. Therefore, she votes straight GOP in every election in the hope that they will, at some point, outlaw abortion. She even told me she thinks it is unlikely to happen, but that with the GOP she, at least, feels it is a possibility.

Years ago he was part of a savage canned hunt filmed for some TV show. They went after a huge boar who had no chance of escaping and they killed it slowly by spearing and slashing at it over and over as the poor trapped animal screamed in agony. Mr Macho stayed well behind the actual tracking and trapping and killing of the boar giving us his voice over description of the travesty.

He wrapped it up with the popular cliche at that time: "It doesn't get any better than this!" I am sure a drop of ejaculate ran down his leg from the excitement in his voice.

He's right up there on my no-no list along with Craig T Nelson.

R99 I looked it up and there are a lot of message board entries saying the same thing as you. They also claim he killed a panther on the ranch owned by Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, in a canned hunt. But I can't find any actual proof, of it. Do you have a source? I can't believe there wouldn't be an actual news story by some actual media outlet about it.

[quote] Always heard it was Dixie Carter who had to go in and coax Delta Burke out of her dressing room.

ACtually, fellas, they called in the marines, so to speak.