Local Lady Is Our Movie Star

Sandra G. Carter is well known in our little town, and can be seen all over town helping out here and there and volunteering her time.

She attends meetings, is an avid church-goer and has been in Monticello her whole life, with the exception of attending school for two years in Atlanta. She is often carrying her camera, and won’t hesitate to take your picture.

I vaguely remember her when I was little, and love her more as I grow older. She has a gracious heart and does her best with anything thrown her way. You may have seen “Miss Sandra” most currently at Family Connection, or previously at the Red Clay Café, Chamber of Commerce, and at the Retreat on Sunday afternoons. She was employed with the Monticello Police Department for over 20 years.

What you may not know is that you may have seen her other places too!

“Miss Sandra” has been in over 65 movies and television shows in her lifetime. She has been featured in big box office hits such as Stomp the Yard, Madea’s Family Reunion, The Preacher’s Kid, The Wronged Man, Fried Green Tomatoes, Greased Lightning, Remember the Titans, Drumline, We are Marshall, ATL, Drop Dead Diva, Lottery Ticket, My Cousin Vinny and most recently Disney’s The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Joyful Noise, and Let it Shine.

{{more}}

Whew…that’s quite a list. called by a casting agent specifically for these roles. Our own local celebrity!

Not to mention the t.v. series such as In the Heat of the Night, on Cartoon Network, Vampire Diaries, The Walking Dead, Sombodies, and more.

What a busy lady…who knew that she was such a traveler?

All of the productions that she is in have been based in Georgia. When asked what her “secret to the stars” was, she said, “I praise God for the things that He has done. It was God who put everything in place for me to fulfill a childhood dream of being on TV and on the big screen.”

She has met and run in the same circles as some big names in the business and finds that when she gets on set for something new, her friends say, “we were looking for you to show up for work on this show.”

By this time, I figured that she should be famous and have some of the money that Hollywood is all about, but she informed me that she has been seen in some major films and shows, and that is what makes up for the little to no pay she receives for some of these roles.

Throughout her travels Sandra has gotten to meet many celebrities that she grew up watching herself. Her biggest highlight was when she got to meet Miss Jessica Tandy on the set of Fried Green Tomatoes. She was the older lady that played the elder Idgie Threadgoode in the movie, and was also in Driving Miss Daisy.

Sandra got to speak to Mrs. Tandy and complimented she and her husband on a previous movie that she has seen called Honky Tonk Freeway.

Another highlight of her travels and roles is that of Carroll O’Conner and Howard Rollins, stars of In the Heat of the Night which was filmed just up the road in Covington. She got close with the cast and some of them still keep in touch today.

Dee Shaw, also from In the Heat of the Night, made an appearance at Jasper’s own Relay for Life. Sandra also met Patty Duke in Sharpsburg. She said, “I was so excited because I grew up watching the Patty Duke show and here I was (am) in a scene with the famous Patty.” She also remembered that on set her husband had to guide her across the street in one scene, because they didn’t want her to wear her glasses.

On the set of Selman, Sandra met Yolanda King, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter. This was the second time that Sandra met her and because of the reoccurrence, Sandra was able to be in a scene alone, and got a very good close up on camera.

There were two well known names that Sandra met in The Fighting Temptations, Mike Epps and Cuba Gooding, Jr.

Speaking of men, on the set of The Simple Life of Noah Dearborn Sandra got to meet Sidney Poitier. She was in extras holding when someone mentioned that he had just walked by, and Sandra took off running to catch him. She introduced herself and with camera in hand said, “I can now die and go to Heaven, I met you.” And she forgot to get the picture!

Miss Carter met Kathy Bates on the set of Warm Springs, and mentioned to her that they had worked together on Fried Green Tomatoes. Kathy replied, “didn’t we have fun,” and took a picture with Sandra.

In Broken Bridges, Sandra was one of only six extras amongst stars such as Bert Reynolds, Kelly Preston (Mrs. John Trovolta), and Toby Keith.

In Motives 2, Sandra was the only extra on set that day, and she was filmed alongside Vivica A. Fox.

Sandra was called to read the lines of Ella Joyce in Trinity Broadcast Network’s The Preacher’s Kid. As a result, Sandra was placed directly behind her in the scenes and aided her in feeding her lines if she got stuck.

In the new hit t.v. show The Walking Dead, promoted as the most watched t.v. drama on basic cable television, Sandra played an old lady in a nursing home and then another time she played a dead old lady in the nursing home. This was a different show than Sandra had ever done, and she found it hard to move around with all of the make-up on.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green, “was a great shoot,” according to Miss Carter.

Joyful Noise was a great movie, and Sandra was in the crowd. It featured Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah. It was filmed at the Atlanta Civic Center.

Until We Meet Again casting director asked if he knew Sandra from somewhere, and she responded that she “was the maid in Motives 2 and you had to keep up with me all day!” It was on this set that Sandra got to chat with Courtney B. Vance about his time on Law and Order.

Whew…talk about a walk through Hollywood.

Next time you watch t.v. or a movie and think to yourself, “that lady looks familiar,” look again, it may be Sandra on the big screen.