Susan Lucci (ABC/Courtesy: Everett Collecti)
Michael E. Knight (ABC)
Walt Willey (©2005 AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMP)
Debbi Morgan (©198x American Broadcasting Comp)
Soaps have been disappearing from the airwaves on a regular basis, but people were still shocked when “All My Children,” once the most celebrated of daytime dramas, was axed earlier this year. Created by daytime powerhouse Agnes Nixon in 1970, the series combined the usual tales of romance, multiple marriages and breakups with groundbreaking social issue stories that focused on everything from AIDS and abortion to a gay wedding. The show signs off this Friday and its classic stars spoke about their fondest memories and saying goodbye.
Susan Lucci
The show’s biggest star, Lucci played its most celebrated character, Erica Kane, starting in 1970.
* Her first day: “I remember my audition scene. There weren’t that many parts for 15-year-old kids that were more than just ‘go do your homework and your father’s coming home, clean up the dishes,’ so [Erica was] a real part. There were four of us like that on the show [Richard Hatch, Jack Stauffer and Karen Lynn Gorney]. So that was already amazing, but this character had such potential, even from my audition scene. My first day, the four of us, who were the kids, were actually on probation. We were told we were on probation for the first five shows. They could change their minds at any time. I had wonderful training, but I didn’t open my mouth. I didn’t come out of my room for a year.”
uThe story she’s most proud of: “The Bianca coming out to her mother, Erica, story line is to me one of my proudest moments to be associated with. I think that is one of the greatest visionary storylines that has been told, I know Agnes [Nixon] wanted to tell that story for years and I was able to get that done.”
Michael E. Knight
Knight played rascal Tad Martin from 1983 on and won three Daytime Emmy Awards.
* On the show’s cancellation: “We’ve had a tough year. We had to get a certain number of weeks ahead so we could shut down and we were doing sometimes seven or eight shows a week. We have these shows coming up where the families have their days. There’s a Chandlers day and a Martin day and stuff like that. When people like Ray [MacDonnell] and Justin [Bruening] come back, when they walk back in the door with their history and you remember personally what they meant to you, I think it’s really going to hit. For me, there will be a shock reaction for about a month. I’ll sit back and look at the last 30 years and go what the hell has happened?”
Walt Willey
As Jackson Montgomery, a character on the show since 1982, Willey is one of the many men who’ve been to the altar with Erica Kane.
* On graduating from extra to contract player: “I was around for a long time before I played Jackson. I was an extra. I was Adam [Chandler]’s jet pilot. I was Palmer Cortlandt’s driver. I was the maitre d’ at The Chateau. To have a contract role as Jack, I have a hard time separating those moments from the moments when I was here six or eight times a year. I had left “Ryan’s Hope” and I got a job at a soap called “Our Group” on Lifetime. It gave me this wonderful tuneup, working that way — a show per day — before “All My Children.” I was so grateful I didn’t come in rusty because I got to work with Susan [Lucci] and David Canary and Larkin Malloy, one right after the other. I can remember being very scared and almost giddy with the fright and the fun and feeling like, ‘Wow. I can actually do this.’ ”
Debbi Morgan
Morgan played Doctor Angie Hubbard from 1982 to 2011 and won a Daytime Emmy in 1989.
* Her first day: “Back in the day, we’d have a rehearsal with cameras, go to lunch, and have a complete dress rehearsal and then tape the show. If you were in the prologue and not in again until Act Six, you could be at the studio until 7 or 8 o’clock at night. My first day was like that. I got something to eat, laid down and fell asleep. It was during the winter, but the heat was on and I had on this flimsy undershirt with no bra under it, and a big sweatshirt. I pulled the sweatshirt off. Next thing I know, they call my name to get on set. I jumped up. I ran on set, [breasts] bouncing. Everybody was laughing so hard and I looked down. I was mortified, absolutely mortified.”