Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (born April 15, 1947 Linda Joyce Bloodworth) is a screenwriter, producer, director and novelist known for creating and writing TV shows with strong female characters, most famously "Designing Women", "Evening Shade", "Heart Afire", and "Women of the House". Through the course of her writing career, she has secured 7 Emmy nominations and 9 other awards. Reflecting on this invitation during an interview for the Memories of M*A*S*H TV Special in 1991, Bloodworth-Thomason called it the kind of Hollywood call that comes once in fifty years.