The disease, which targets the tissue lining the uterus, struck 42,160 women in 2009, according to the latest statistics from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). It mostly affects women over the age of 50 and more white women than African Americans.

Carter, who died Saturday at the age of 70, was nominated for an Emmy Award for her portrayal of the devious mother-in-law of Marcia Cross' character, Bree Hodge, on "Desperate Housewive

Dixie Carter, the sharp-tongued Julia Sugarbaker in television's "Designing Women," is one of the nearly 8,000 women who die each year of endometrial cancer.