Eileen Fulton
2009 Soap Opera Hall of Fame Inductee
2009 Soap Opera Hall of Fame Inductee
- Lisa Miller, As The World Turns
- Lisa Miller Hughes, Our Private World
She majored in music and minored in dramatics at Greensboro College in North Carolina and made her professional debut in The Lost Colony, an annual presentation at Manteo, NC. While at Greensboro College, she received a Best Actress award for her performances in the productions of Candide and Thurber's Thirteen Clocks. In 1956, she moved to New York and studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater. She came to New York with a two-fold goal: to make it as a singer and an actress.
While studying her craft, Fulton worked at Macy's, selling hats and occasionally modeling for photos used to illustrate the stories in True Confessions magazine. After a few small theater gigs and a co-starring role opposite Anne Francis in the 1960 film Girl of the Night where she played a girl named Lisa, she fell into the role with which she would forever be identified.
Fulton had auditioned for a part on the CBS soap opera The Brighter Day (ironically as a minister's daughter), but producers thought she would be better cast as Bob Hughes' social-climbing girlfriend on As The World Turns. The role was originally supposed to be temporary, but William J. Bell and Irna Phillips became intrigued by the charm and energy Fulton brought to the role, and began to develop the character. She has now played Lisa almost continually (with two notable interruptions) since May 18, 1960, almost 50 years; pretty impressive for a role that was originally intended to be temporary.
When the devious Lisa had Bob Hughes (Don Hastings) and his family under her thumb, outraged mail poured into CBS. By the time Lisa had taken up with shoe salesman Bruce Elliott (James Pritchett), Fulton had to hire a security guard to protect her from the overenthusiastic, sometimes violent fans as she made her way to the studio.
The character of Lisa has been put through some wild situations -- over three dozen lovers, married eight times, divorced three times, widowed four times (with her most recent marriage annulled), murder trials, rapes, amnesia, a Mexican mudslide, a phantom fetus. Through it all fans have always been transfixed by Fulton's refreshing originality, enormous vitality, and her flamboyant comedy style as she brings Lisa Miller Hughes Eldridge Shea Colman McColl Mitchell Grimaldi Chedwyn to life on their screens.
Fulton's portrayal of Lisa created the strongest prototype of its time for the daytime vixen; the character and actress were, in Fulton's first decades on As the World Turns, very popular (to the point where, in the late 1960s, Fulton had to hire a publicist, the first soap actress to do so). Her popularity earned her the title of daytime TV's most hated woman for a number of yeras, and when Daytime TV magazine debuted it's Reader's Poll in April 1970, she graced the poll as it's first ever Best Actress. She would go on to place in the Top 10 in the poll 58 times during the first 80 polls conducted and recorded by the magazine. Her last appearance in the top 10 was in 1977.
Among her fans through the years have been the famous such as Van Cliburn, Renata Tabaldi and Bette Davis who called Fulton "absolutely the most chic, best looking put-together woman I've ever seen."
Despite her popularity, Fulton's run has not been without controversy. During the late 1960s, after her onscreen son was SORASed from age 12 to 19, Fulton was noted for insisting it be written into her contract that her character could not become a grandmother, as she feared it would impede the glamorous, fast-paced storylines in which she was involved at the time. As a result, the actress received enormous amounts of "hate mail" when Lisa's onscreen daughter-in-law, Margo, had a miscarriage in 1986. (It is unclear whether the "granny clause", as it became known, was still in effect at the time.) Now in her seventies, Fulton no longer has the "granny clause" in her contract; her character has two sons -- a third son died a number of years ago -- and four grandchildren.
She left the show three times - first in 1963 to focus more on her stage career when she was replaced in the role of Lisa by actress Pamela King; in 1965 to bring her Lisa character to her own prime time soap spin-off, Our Private World (CBS's attempt to mimic the success of ABC's Peyton Place). On Our Private World, Lisa was written as a variation on the Bette Davis character in Beyond the Forest, a girl who pined for fun and freedom in Chicago. Our Private World lasted only thru the summer. Fulton returned to As The World Turns for ten weeks to wrap up the storylines begun on Our Private World. She then took a year off from the show to sing in various nightclubs and returned to the soap on January 16, 1967 as a new and glamorous Lisa. She left again in 1983 after a contract dispute with executive producer Mary-Ellis Bunim. In a burst of publicity, Fulton again returned to Oakdale in teh summer of 1984 as Lisa discovered the body of her fifth husband, Whit McColl, thus setting off another season of murder, mystery, and melodrama. During Fulton's 1983-1984 absence, the role of Lisa was played by Betsy von Furstenberg. The following actresses played the part during Fulton's temporary leaves: Lynn Rogers (1977-1978), Jane Powell (1991, 1993, and 1994), Maeve McGuire (1992) and Carmen Duncan (2004).
Although the character of Lisa is still appearing on the show, Fulton has been vocal about her displeasure at not being more prominently featured. Fulton was prominently featured in April 2006 during the show's 50th anniversary episode, and from January 2008 to August 2008, was roughly seen in at least two episodes per week. Her appearances have dropped off since then but she recently signed a new two year contract that will run through her 50th year on the show, 2010.
While working on ATWT, Fulton has remained very busy offscreen as well. Among other things, including the Broadway productions of The Fantasticks and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? opposite her ATWT co-star Henderson Forsythe, Fulton has written two memoirs, How My World Turns and As My World Still Turns. She also wrote a mystery novel, called Soap Opera, loosely based on her experiences on As the World Turns as well as a series of six murder mystery novels including Take One for Murder about a soap opera star "Nina" and her detective boyfriend "Dino." Fulton is a talented cabaret singer and has sung in many top nightclubs around the country and starred in several one-woman shows.
She is an active supporter of many charities such as UNICEF, March of Dimes, Cerebal Palsy, Lupus Foundation, and Martha's Table, which benefits poor and homeless mothers and children. She has established a musical scholarship in her father's name at Brevarad College in North Carolina, and a Fine Arts Scholarship in her & her mother's names at their alma mater, Greensboro. She is also a women's right's advocate.
Fulton is a 1955 graduate of Greensboro College and was granted an honorary doctorate in 2005, on the 50h anniversary of her college graduation. She was the commencement speaker at Greensboro's graduation ceremony in 2005.
For her work on As The World Turns, she received one Daytime Emmy nomination for Supporting Actress in 1988. She also received the Lifetime Achivement Award from the Daytime Emmys in 2004. She was nominated twice for the Soap Opera Digest Awards: for Outstanding Lead Actress in 1996; and for Outstanding Contribution by an Actor/Actress to the Form of Continuing Drama who is currently on a Daytime Serial in 1986. In 1991, Soap Opera Digest awarded her with the Editor's Award.
She currently resides in Manhattan.
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