Agnes Nixon
Encyclopedia
Agnes Nixon is an American
writer
and producer
. She attended Northwestern University
where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega
sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap opera
s such as One Life to Live
and All My Children
. Having a key role in the production of these programs, she was either executive producer or consulting producer for both shows for many years: on One Life to Live from 1968 to 1975, and All My Children from 1970 to 1981.
Nixon continued to write for All My Children program with Wisner Washam
until 1983, and again with him and Lorraine Broderick
from 1988 to 1992, continuing on as a consultant in recurring capacities to date. From 1970 until 1989, every episode of All My Children was written by either Nixon or her protégés
Washam and Broderick (Nixon's role with One Life to Live was more limited once she surrendered the day-to-day aspects of the show in 1975). Because of her long career and the number of successful shows she has created or been a part of, she is often called the "Queen" of the modern soap opera. Her creations and her writing have had the most effect on modern audiences, second only to her mentor Irna Phillips
.
. Phillips' other protégé around that time was William J. Bell
, who also went on to become a noted daytime writer in his own right, creating The Young and the Restless
and The Bold and the Beautiful
.
Under Phillips' tutelage, she was a writer on As the World Turns
, and was head writer for Search for Tomorrow
, Guiding Light
and, notably, on Another World
, where she created the character of Rachel Davis Cory
, an early prototype of one of her more lasting creations, Erica Kane
.
During her time on Guiding Light, Nixon is believed to have written the first medical-related storyline on a soap opera. A friend of Nixon's had died from cervical cancer
, and Nixon wanted to do something to educate women about getting a Pap smear
. She wrote it into Guiding Light by having the lead character, Bert Bauer, encounter a cancer scare. This storyline aired in 1962; Nixon had to work around some difficulties of getting this storyline to air, as she could not make use of the words "cancer," "uterus
," and "Pap test." However, after this storyline the number of women who took a Pap smear surged dramatically. In 2002, she received a special Sentinel for Health "pioneer award" for her work on Guiding Light.
When she left Another World
, she left the tutelage of Phillips (and the restrictions of sponsor Procter & Gamble
) to create her own shows.
. ABC
executives passed on the program, due to contractual issues with sponsor Lever Brothers
, who sponsored a program that All My Children would replace in its time slot. Due to this, they asked her to create a show that would reflect a more "contemporary" tone; that creation was One Life to Live
. Nixon, "tired of the restraints imposed by the WASP
y, non-controversial nature of daytime drama, presented the network with a startlingly original premise and cast of characters. Although the show was built along the classic soap formula of a rich family and a poor family, One Life to Live emphasized the ethnic and socioeconomic
diversity of the people of Llanview, Pennsylvania
, a suburb of Pennsylvania
."
Premiering in 1968, One Life to Live initially reflected changing social structures and attitudes. The first few years of the show were rich in issue stories and characters including Jewish characters, Polish-American families, and the first African-American leads, Carla Gray (Ellen Holly
), and Ed Hall (Al Freeman, Jr.
). Gray's story, for example, had her develop from a character who was passing as white to one who embodied black pride
, with white and black loves along the way, to antagonize racists. One Life to Live has been called "the most peculiarly American of soap operas: the first serial to present a vast array of ethnic types, broad comic situations, a constant emphasis on social issues, and strong male characters."
On July 21 and July 22, 2008, Nixon appeared on One Life to Live for its 40th anniversary, portraying observer "Agnes" in a storyline in which the show's central original character, Nixon's Victoria Lord
(Erika Slezak
), visits Heaven.
The show was successful from its beginning, combining its study of social clashes with acting talent including Ruth Warrick
and Rosemary Prinz
. Nixon helmed the writing team for over a decade, until 1983.
It is on All My Children that Nixon had the most impact; her long tenure as writer helped shaped the show and its characters. She again introduced many social issues into storylines, including the anti-war movement, homosexuality
, the AIDS
epidemic, and American television's first onscreen abortion
(by character Erica Kane
). (The abortion storyline was effectively undone in 2006 by then-head writer Megan McTavish
, with the revelation that Erica's unborn fetus was secretly transplanted into a surrogate and successfully delivered - a procedure that is medically impossible.)
All My Children was a half-hour show for the first seven years of its run, and virtually none of those episodes exist. ABC erased the tapes of those early episodes so the tapes could be reused. When ABC went to Nixon and said that they wanted her to expand the show to an hour in 1975, she resisted due to her own creative/quality concerns, but later agreed under the condition that the tapes of the show would be archived and preserved by the network. Episodes began to be saved in 1976, while All My Children expanded to an hour on April 25, 1977.
In 1992, ABC
executives decided that All My Children needed new blood, and promoted another Nixon protégé, Megan McTavish, to the position of head writer (Nixon continued to be involved with the show, but wanted to take a step back from the grueling day-to-day task of being a head writer). McTavish made some important changes by re-writing major storylines. Most notably, when the show debuted in 1970, the father of Erica Kane
(Susan Lucci
) had simply abandoned his wife, Mona (Frances Heflin
), to be with another woman. McTavish changed history so that Erica had been rape
d by a friend of her father and had a child, Kendall Hart (Sarah Michelle Gellar
, now portrayed by Alicia Minshew
). McTavish was dismissed in early-1995 and Lorraine Broderick returned as head writer, working alongside Nixon, in an attempt to return the show to its socially relevant, character-driven roots. Broderick, with Nixon at her side, went on to accept three consecutive Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Writing Team. Still, in late-1997, ABC abruptly decided to bring back McTavish. This move led to Nixon electing to step back from her story consulting role.
In early-1999, McTavish was dismissed for the second time and Nixon was again asked to take over the headwriting reins at All My Children. Nixon was well aware that this would probably be her last major stint as head writer in daytime television, and wanted to leave one final legacy. As it had always been Nixon's intention that her soaps would deal with important social issues, Nixon decided to forever change the landscape of the show by having a major character "come out"
(although the show had gay characters in the past, they had always been supporting players). In 2000, Erica's daughter, Bianca Montgomery
(Eden Riegel
), returned to Pine Valley with a secret, and for months the audience witnessed the character trying to keep that secret (her sexuality) from everyone around her. The character was eventually revealed to be a lesbian
. Although this was at first met with criticism, it renewed interest in the show and Eden Riegel gained a large fanbase. This storyline led to All My Children winning a casting Arios award, a GLAAD Media Award and to being nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Best Drama Series.
In 2005, Nixon appeared onscreen to celebrate the 35th anniversary of All My Children on January 5. She played "Agnes Eckhardt" (Nixon's maiden name). The character was introduced as a longstanding board member of Pine Valley Hospital. The episode included several in-jokes about the behind the scenes running of the show. For example, while Agnes was speaking, Opal Cortlandt (Jill Larson
) said "The way she's talking you would think she built the town with her own bare hands." Verla Grubbs (Carol Burnett
) spoke a line of dialogue to Bianca Montgomery where she confirmed, "I've been following your story since the beginning!" (Carol Burnett admits to having been a fan of the show since it debuted in 1970). This episode was also very significant as it was the last screen appearance of original cast member Ruth Warrick
before her death ten days later; Nixon appeared at an onscreen memorial service for Warrick's character Phoebe in May 2005.
In 2003, she appeared in an episode of A&E Biography
about All My Children. On November 12, 2008, she appeared on All My Childrens 10,000th episode as "Aggie", the ghost of the woman who started Pine Valley in 1870. She was carrying a large book entitled "All My Children" and knew everyone's history, mentioning her dear friends Myrtle Fargate and Palmer Cortlandt
. The purpose of her visit was to assure the traumatized town residents that Pine Valley could rise up out of the ashes after a series of tornadoes brought death and devastation. At the end of the episode, Erica said, "We'll rise from this even stronger, the great and the least," followed by, "The rich and the poor," from Adam; "The weak and the strong," from Jesse; "In joy and in sorrow," from Tad; and, "In tragedy and triumph," from Joe. At the end of the speech, Aggie told the characters, "You are all my children," and blew a kiss to the viewers.
On December 19, 2008, Nixon appeared on All My Childrens tribute to long-time resident Myrtle Fargate, portrayed by Eileen Herlie
, who died on October 8, 2008. As the characters closest to Myrtle celebrated her life in a room decorated as a carnival, Agnes Nixon entered and blew a kiss toward Myrtle's portrait.
Nixon is set to reprise the "Agnes Eckhardt" character some time in the final weeks of the series, before the show moves online.
, which she co-created with Douglas Marland
. The half-hour program debuted on ABC in June of that year and was set in the fictional town of Corinth, Pennsylvania. Described as a "classic soap opera for the 1980s", Loving never was able to gain a foothold in a crowded daytime schedule and ended its run in 1995. Nixon was given co-creator credit for Loving's continuation series, The City, and remained as its creative consultant until its cancellation in 1997 due to low ratings. The City tied with Loving for last place in the ratings its first year and finished second-to-last its second, finishing slightly ahead of the debuting Sunset Beach
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
. She attended Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega is a women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. Currently, there are 135 chapters of Alpha Chi Omega at colleges and universities across the United States and more than 200,000 lifetime members...
sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
s such as One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
and All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
. Having a key role in the production of these programs, she was either executive producer or consulting producer for both shows for many years: on One Life to Live from 1968 to 1975, and All My Children from 1970 to 1981.
Nixon continued to write for All My Children program with Wisner Washam
Wisner Washam
Wisner Washam is an American soap opera writer, best known as the Head Writer of All My Children, from 1981 to 1987.-Early Life and Career:A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
until 1983, and again with him and Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick
Lorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
from 1988 to 1992, continuing on as a consultant in recurring capacities to date. From 1970 until 1989, every episode of All My Children was written by either Nixon or her protégés
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
Washam and Broderick (Nixon's role with One Life to Live was more limited once she surrendered the day-to-day aspects of the show in 1975). Because of her long career and the number of successful shows she has created or been a part of, she is often called the "Queen" of the modern soap opera. Her creations and her writing have had the most effect on modern audiences, second only to her mentor Irna Phillips
Irna Phillips
Irna Phillips was an American actress and most notably writer who created and scripted many of the first American soap operas.Phillips created radio and TV soap operas including:...
.
Procter and Gamble
Nixon began her career in soaps working for Irna PhillipsIrna Phillips
Irna Phillips was an American actress and most notably writer who created and scripted many of the first American soap operas.Phillips created radio and TV soap operas including:...
. Phillips' other protégé around that time was William J. Bell
William J. Bell
William J. Bell was the creator and executive producer of the soap operas The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful.-Personal life:...
, who also went on to become a noted daytime writer in his own right, creating The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless
The Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
and The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
.
Under Phillips' tutelage, she was a writer on As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
, and was head writer for Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
, Guiding Light
Guiding Light
Guiding Light is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running drama in television and radio history, running from 1937 until 2009...
and, notably, on Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
, where she created the character of Rachel Davis Cory
Rachel Cory Hutchins
Rachel Cory Hutchins is a fictional character on NBC daytime soap opera, Another World.-Casting:...
, an early prototype of one of her more lasting creations, Erica Kane
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
.
During her time on Guiding Light, Nixon is believed to have written the first medical-related storyline on a soap opera. A friend of Nixon's had died from cervical cancer
Cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. One of the most common symptoms is abnormal vaginal bleeding, but in some cases there may be no obvious symptoms until the cancer is in its advanced stages...
, and Nixon wanted to do something to educate women about getting a Pap smear
Pap smear
The Papanicolaou test is a screening test used in to detect pre-cancerous and cancerous processes in the endocervical canal of the female reproductive system. Changes can be treated, thus preventing cervical cancer...
. She wrote it into Guiding Light by having the lead character, Bert Bauer, encounter a cancer scare. This storyline aired in 1962; Nixon had to work around some difficulties of getting this storyline to air, as she could not make use of the words "cancer," "uterus
Uterus
The uterus or womb is a major female hormone-responsive reproductive sex organ of most mammals including humans. One end, the cervix, opens into the vagina, while the other is connected to one or both fallopian tubes, depending on the species...
," and "Pap test." However, after this storyline the number of women who took a Pap smear surged dramatically. In 2002, she received a special Sentinel for Health "pioneer award" for her work on Guiding Light.
When she left Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
, she left the tutelage of Phillips (and the restrictions of sponsor Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble
Procter & Gamble is a Fortune 500 American multinational corporation headquartered in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio and manufactures a wide range of consumer goods....
) to create her own shows.
One Life to Live
By the mid 1960s, Nixon had created the bible for what would become All My ChildrenAll My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
. ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
executives passed on the program, due to contractual issues with sponsor Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers
Lever Brothers was a British manufacturer founded in 1885 by William Hesketh Lever and his brother, James Darcy Lever . The brothers had invested in and promoted a new soap making process invented by chemist William Hough Watson, it was a huge success...
, who sponsored a program that All My Children would replace in its time slot. Due to this, they asked her to create a show that would reflect a more "contemporary" tone; that creation was One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
. Nixon, "tired of the restraints imposed by the WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
y, non-controversial nature of daytime drama, presented the network with a startlingly original premise and cast of characters. Although the show was built along the classic soap formula of a rich family and a poor family, One Life to Live emphasized the ethnic and socioeconomic
Socioeconomics
Socioeconomics or socio-economics or social economics is an umbrella term with different usages. 'Social economics' may refer broadly to the "use of economics in the study of society." More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social...
diversity of the people of Llanview, Pennsylvania
Llanview, Pennsylvania
Llanview, Pennsylvania is the fictional setting for the long-running American soap opera One Life to Live. The city exists in the same fictional universe as cities from other existing or defunct ABC daytime dramas, including Pine Valley from All My Children, Port Charles from General Hospital, and...
, a suburb of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
."
Premiering in 1968, One Life to Live initially reflected changing social structures and attitudes. The first few years of the show were rich in issue stories and characters including Jewish characters, Polish-American families, and the first African-American leads, Carla Gray (Ellen Holly
Ellen Holly
Ellen Holly is an American actress.-Career:Holly began her career on stage appearing in the Broadway productions of Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright and A Hand Is on the Gate before embarking on a television and film career...
), and Ed Hall (Al Freeman, Jr.
Al Freeman, Jr.
Al Freeman, Jr., M.Ed. is an African-American actor and director....
). Gray's story, for example, had her develop from a character who was passing as white to one who embodied black pride
Black pride
Black pride is a slogan indicating pride in being black. Related movements include black nationalism and Afrocentrism.The slogan has been used in the United States by African Americans to celebrate heritage and personal pride. The black pride movement is closely linked with the developments of the...
, with white and black loves along the way, to antagonize racists. One Life to Live has been called "the most peculiarly American of soap operas: the first serial to present a vast array of ethnic types, broad comic situations, a constant emphasis on social issues, and strong male characters."
On July 21 and July 22, 2008, Nixon appeared on One Life to Live for its 40th anniversary, portraying observer "Agnes" in a storyline in which the show's central original character, Nixon's Victoria Lord
Victoria Lord
Victoria "Viki" Lord is the principal fictional character and matriarch of the Lord family on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live...
(Erika Slezak
Erika Slezak
Erika Alma Hermina Slezak is an American actress, best known for her role as Victoria Lord on the American daytime soap opera One Life to Live...
), visits Heaven.
All My Children
With the success of One Life to Live, Nixon was given the greenlight for All My Children, which began as a half-hour soap opera in 1970.The show was successful from its beginning, combining its study of social clashes with acting talent including Ruth Warrick
Ruth Warrick
Ruth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005....
and Rosemary Prinz
Rosemary Prinz
Rosemary Prinz was a stage and television actress. She is most known for her work in the early era of the American soap opera.-Life and career:Prinz was born in New York City...
. Nixon helmed the writing team for over a decade, until 1983.
It is on All My Children that Nixon had the most impact; her long tenure as writer helped shaped the show and its characters. She again introduced many social issues into storylines, including the anti-war movement, homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, the AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
epidemic, and American television's first onscreen abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
(by character Erica Kane
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
). (The abortion storyline was effectively undone in 2006 by then-head writer Megan McTavish
Megan McTavish
Megan McTavish is an American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.-Early career:...
, with the revelation that Erica's unborn fetus was secretly transplanted into a surrogate and successfully delivered - a procedure that is medically impossible.)
All My Children was a half-hour show for the first seven years of its run, and virtually none of those episodes exist. ABC erased the tapes of those early episodes so the tapes could be reused. When ABC went to Nixon and said that they wanted her to expand the show to an hour in 1975, she resisted due to her own creative/quality concerns, but later agreed under the condition that the tapes of the show would be archived and preserved by the network. Episodes began to be saved in 1976, while All My Children expanded to an hour on April 25, 1977.
In 1992, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
executives decided that All My Children needed new blood, and promoted another Nixon protégé, Megan McTavish, to the position of head writer (Nixon continued to be involved with the show, but wanted to take a step back from the grueling day-to-day task of being a head writer). McTavish made some important changes by re-writing major storylines. Most notably, when the show debuted in 1970, the father of Erica Kane
Erica Kane
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children.The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show first aired in January 1970, until the last broadcast television episode aired in September 2011. Erica is considered to be the most popular...
(Susan Lucci
Susan Lucci
Susan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the...
) had simply abandoned his wife, Mona (Frances Heflin
Frances Heflin
Mary Frances Heflin was an American actress.-Life and career:Heflin was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Fanny Bleecker and Dr. Emmett Evan Heflin, a dentist. She was the sister of Academy Award-winning actor Van Heflin...
), to be with another woman. McTavish changed history so that Erica had been rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
d by a friend of her father and had a child, Kendall Hart (Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Sarah Michelle Prinze , known professionally by her birth name of Sarah Michelle Gellar , is an American actress, singer and executive producer...
, now portrayed by Alicia Minshew
Alicia Minshew
Alicia Herschenfeld best known as Alicia Minshew is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Kendall Hart on the daytime drama All My Children.-Early life and career:...
). McTavish was dismissed in early-1995 and Lorraine Broderick returned as head writer, working alongside Nixon, in an attempt to return the show to its socially relevant, character-driven roots. Broderick, with Nixon at her side, went on to accept three consecutive Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Writing Team. Still, in late-1997, ABC abruptly decided to bring back McTavish. This move led to Nixon electing to step back from her story consulting role.
In early-1999, McTavish was dismissed for the second time and Nixon was again asked to take over the headwriting reins at All My Children. Nixon was well aware that this would probably be her last major stint as head writer in daytime television, and wanted to leave one final legacy. As it had always been Nixon's intention that her soaps would deal with important social issues, Nixon decided to forever change the landscape of the show by having a major character "come out"
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
(although the show had gay characters in the past, they had always been supporting players). In 2000, Erica's daughter, Bianca Montgomery
Bianca Montgomery
Bianca Christine Montgomery is a fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. In June 2010, Christina Bennett Lind replaced Eden Riegel, who portrayed the role from July 2000 to January 2010. Until Riegel assumed the role, the character was portrayed solely by child...
(Eden Riegel
Eden Riegel
Eden Sonja Jane Riegel is an American actress. She portrayed Bianca Montgomery on the daytime drama All My Children, and propelled the character into a gay icon, as well as a popular figure within the medium...
), returned to Pine Valley with a secret, and for months the audience witnessed the character trying to keep that secret (her sexuality) from everyone around her. The character was eventually revealed to be a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
. Although this was at first met with criticism, it renewed interest in the show and Eden Riegel gained a large fanbase. This storyline led to All My Children winning a casting Arios award, a GLAAD Media Award and to being nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Best Drama Series.
In 2005, Nixon appeared onscreen to celebrate the 35th anniversary of All My Children on January 5. She played "Agnes Eckhardt" (Nixon's maiden name). The character was introduced as a longstanding board member of Pine Valley Hospital. The episode included several in-jokes about the behind the scenes running of the show. For example, while Agnes was speaking, Opal Cortlandt (Jill Larson
Jill Larson
Jill Larson is an American dramatic actress. She is most widely known for her portrayal of Opal Cortlandt on the popular daytime drama, All My Children, a role she has played for 22 years, garnering her 2 Emmy nominations...
) said "The way she's talking you would think she built the town with her own bare hands." Verla Grubbs (Carol Burnett
Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
) spoke a line of dialogue to Bianca Montgomery where she confirmed, "I've been following your story since the beginning!" (Carol Burnett admits to having been a fan of the show since it debuted in 1970). This episode was also very significant as it was the last screen appearance of original cast member Ruth Warrick
Ruth Warrick
Ruth Elizabeth Warrick , DM, was an American singer, actress and political activist, best known for her role as Phoebe Tyler on All My Children, which she played regularly from 1970 until her death in 2005....
before her death ten days later; Nixon appeared at an onscreen memorial service for Warrick's character Phoebe in May 2005.
In 2003, she appeared in an episode of A&E Biography
Biography
A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life. More than a list of basic facts , biography also portrays the subject's experience of those events...
about All My Children. On November 12, 2008, she appeared on All My Childrens 10,000th episode as "Aggie", the ghost of the woman who started Pine Valley in 1870. She was carrying a large book entitled "All My Children" and knew everyone's history, mentioning her dear friends Myrtle Fargate and Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt
Palmer Cortlandt is a fictional character on the long-running ABC soap opera All My Children, played by James Mitchell from 1979 to 2010. A major character until 1982, when health issues forced him to reduce his work load, Mitchell continued to appear regularly on the show until May 2007 when he...
. The purpose of her visit was to assure the traumatized town residents that Pine Valley could rise up out of the ashes after a series of tornadoes brought death and devastation. At the end of the episode, Erica said, "We'll rise from this even stronger, the great and the least," followed by, "The rich and the poor," from Adam; "The weak and the strong," from Jesse; "In joy and in sorrow," from Tad; and, "In tragedy and triumph," from Joe. At the end of the speech, Aggie told the characters, "You are all my children," and blew a kiss to the viewers.
On December 19, 2008, Nixon appeared on All My Childrens tribute to long-time resident Myrtle Fargate, portrayed by Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie
Eileen Herlie was a Scottish-American actress.-Life and career:Eileen Herlie was born Eileen Isobel Herlihy to a Catholic father and a Protestant mother in Glasgow, Scotland, and was one of five children. Herlie was trained as a theatre actress. Among her West End London theatre successes were The...
, who died on October 8, 2008. As the characters closest to Myrtle celebrated her life in a room decorated as a carnival, Agnes Nixon entered and blew a kiss toward Myrtle's portrait.
Nixon is set to reprise the "Agnes Eckhardt" character some time in the final weeks of the series, before the show moves online.
Loving / The City
In 1983, Nixon began another series called LovingLoving (TV series)
Caden Grant Carlton loves Mika Ayako Ryan more.Loving is an American television soap opera which aired on ABC's daytime lineup from June 26, 1983 to November 10, 1995 for 3,169 episodes...
, which she co-created with Douglas Marland
Douglas Marland
Douglas Marland was an American actor and writer of soap operas.-Career:He began his soap opera career as an actor, appearing on the Irna Phillips series The Brighter Day and As the World Turns. He also did odd jobs on the side as a director for small theatre groups...
. The half-hour program debuted on ABC in June of that year and was set in the fictional town of Corinth, Pennsylvania. Described as a "classic soap opera for the 1980s", Loving never was able to gain a foothold in a crowded daytime schedule and ended its run in 1995. Nixon was given co-creator credit for Loving's continuation series, The City, and remained as its creative consultant until its cancellation in 1997 due to low ratings. The City tied with Loving for last place in the ratings its first year and finished second-to-last its second, finishing slightly ahead of the debuting Sunset Beach
Sunset Beach (TV series)
Sunset Beach was an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on January 6, 1997, and last airing on December 31, 1999. The show followed the loves and lives of the people living in a fictional coastal city named Sunset Beach, on the coast of California...
.
Awards and recognition
- She was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame at a Planet HollywoodPlanet HollywoodPlanet Hollywood, a restaurant inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood, was launched in New York on October 22, 1991, with the backing of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.-History:...
restaurant in 1994. - She received the Trustees Award for Continued Excellence from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 1981.
- At one point, Nixon raised eyebrows and caused a great deal of upset in the writers' circle by her adamant refusal to join the Writers Guild of AmericaWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
. As the executive producer of her shows, she feared that a writers' strike would force her to stop her writing activities but still be required to produce the show. In spite of this, she has won five Writers Guild of America Awards for Best Written Daytime Serial. - Primetime Emmy: Outstanding Program Achievement in Daytime Drama - One Life to Live - shared with Doris Quinlan.
- It was announced in May 2010 that Nixon would receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences during the ceremonies of the 37th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in June 2010.
HW Tenures
All My Children, story guidance
In addition to her head writing terms, Nixon has also served as the Exectutive Story Consultant with other Head Writers from All My Children at various times throughout its run:- with Wisner WashamWisner WashamWisner Washam is an American soap opera writer, best known as the Head Writer of All My Children, from 1981 to 1987.-Early Life and Career:A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
from 1983–1987 - with Lorraine BroderickLorraine BroderickLorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
from 1987–1989 - with Margaret DePriestMargaret DePriestMargaret DePriest is an American daytime serial writer.She began her career as an actress both onstage and on television. Her acting credits include a contract role as the first Abby Cameron on The Edge of Night from 1965-1966....
from March-December, 1989 - with Megan McTavishMegan McTavishMegan McTavish is an American television actress and soap opera writer. McTavish is best known for several head writing stints on All My Children.-Early career:...
from 1992–1995 - with Lorraine BroderickLorraine BroderickLorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
from June, 1995 – December, 1997 - with Lorraine BroderickLorraine BroderickLorraine Broderick is an American television soap opera writer who got her start on All My Children as a protégée of the show's creator, Agnes Nixon.-Bio:...
from June-September, 2011