Charles “Chip” Dox Dies: Former ‘General Hospital’ & ‘Days Of Our Lives’ Production Designer, Art Director Was 80

Charles “Chip” Dox, an Emmy-winning former production designer and art director for daytime dramas including General Hospital and Days of Our Lives, died August 15. He was 80.

Dox first joined GH in 2005, where he best known for designing those fancy Quartermaine homes and the sets for the beloved Nurses Ball. He won a Daytime Emmy for his work on the ABC sudser in 2011.

Before he joined the entertainment industry, Dox attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now known as Carnegie Mellon University) and served two years in the Army. He ended up teaching at his alma mater, but he was determined to move west and launch a design career in Tinseltown.

There wasn’t a genre Dox didn’t have a hand in. He designed touring shows for Elton John, The Beach Boys, Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire and Jackson Browne. He worked with Tracey Ulman on her sitcom Tracey Takes On, as well as the Lifetime comedy series, Oh Baby. Dox also spent time at Telemundo, working on the sitcoms Viva Vegas and Los Beltrán. 

But daytime TV is where Dox truly made his mark. He spent 17 years on NBC’s Days of Our Lives, where he won his first Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Set Direction in 1997. It was there that he met producer Jeanne Haney, who would ultimately become his wife.

Dox then moved to ABC, where he worked on Port Charles, the nighttime soap Nightshift, and General Hospital, where he worked until his retirement in 2015. 

Dox was generous in every aspect of his life, whether it was mentoring up-and-coming art directors, or helping to redesign a pilates studio where his wife convinced him to “try just once.” (He continued going for more than 22 years). He prepared brown bag lunches every Sunday for the homeless, and was frequently called upon to design family weddings and parties.

Dox is survived by his wife of 29 years, Jeanne, along with daughters Morgan Dox, Katie Segal, Hayley Dox-DaCosta, and stepdaughter Megan Younger and their families; granddaughters Rae Kim, Kiddo Dox-DaCosta, and grandsons Henry and Charlie Segal.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to an organization that was dear to Dox, the World Central Kitchen.