Eileen Fulton, the beloved soap opera star best known for “As the World Turns,” has passed away. She was 91.
Fulton died on Monday, July 14, in her hometown of Asheville, N.C., following “a period of declining health,” according to an obituary from Groce Funeral Home.
Born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty in Asheville on September 13, 1933, Fulton’s father worked as a Methodist minister, and her mother was a public school teacher.
The legendary actress once said that her first performance took place at church when she was just 2 years old.
“I jumped from my mother’s lap and ran to the altar and sang, ‘Mama’s little baby loves shortening bread,’” she told CBS News in 1998. “They couldn’t shut me up, and they haven’t been able to shut me up since.”
After studying drama and music at Greensboro College, Fulton moved to New York City in 1956 and took classes with famed acting teachers Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg.
But it wasn’t until 1960 that the actress, now using the stage name Eileen Fulton, was cast as Lisa Mae Bailey in the drama film “Girl of the Night” alongside co-star Anne Francis.
Later that same year, Fulton was cast as the conniving Lisa Grimaldi on “As the World Turns” during the soap’s fourth season.
Although her character was initially supposed to have a short role in the CBS drama, Fulton remained on “As the World Turns” until the show came to an end 50 years later in September 2010.
Don Hastings, who played Bob Hughes, portrayed Fulton’s on-screen love interest for the majority of the soap’s lengthy run.
“I had a lot of experience being conniving as a minister’s daughter,” Fulton shared with NPR in 2010. “I found the people in my daddy’s church fascinating.”
“When I went up for Lisa, she was just a nice girl next door. And just for the summer, for Bob’s interest,” she added. “I didn’t want to play anything so close to myself. So I decided to just give her a background.”
“I thought about where her family came from. I thought about what she really wanted. And I thought amazing thoughts when I did those scenes,” Fulton continued. “I didn’t change their lines – not yet, because I knew better – but I certainly had other ideas about what I’d like to do with that Bob. And it read.”
By the end of the series, Fulton’s character had gone through eight husbands and dozens of different lovers.
Fulton was surprised when CBS announced that “As the World Turns” would end in 2010 after an impressive 54 seasons.
“It’s just a shock – it’s like mother and daddy got divorced or died or something,” she said at the time.
However, the actress was confident that everyone from the show would land on their feet.
“We’re all very good at what we do, and we’ll all be working again,” she added.
Besides “As the World Turns,” Fulton starred in the Broadway play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” in 1963. She also appeared in “Our Private World,” a brief spin-off of “As the World Turns,” in 1965.
Fulton earned a Soap Opera Digest Award for her role as Lisa Grimaldi in 1991 and was later presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2004 Daytime Emmys.
“I have gone through two lives, my own and Lisa’s, and not many actors get to do that,” she told The New York Times in 1995.
