Eileen Fulton was the first soap star, long before Susan Lucci.
She played Lisa Miller Hughes (and a lot of last names after that) on CBS’s “As the World Turns” from 1960 to the show’s end in 2010. Lisa was the first bad girl on soaps, setting the mold for Erica Kane and all the others who followed.
Fulton was a celebrity in New York, as well. She had a full time publicist like movie stars — and unlike soap actors — who kept her in the Post and Daily News with amazing regularity. Fulton performed in cabaret clubs often, singing for her legions of fans. She wrote two books, and in 1966 she was briefly spun off into a CBS nighttime soap with her name above the title.
This was a time when soaps had millions of viewers every afternoon who hung on Lisa’s adventures. Fulton even recorded a song called “As the World Turns” that was a minor hit in the early 60s. She was great at promoting herself, which made “As the World Turns” number 1 for more than a decade.
As time went on, new bad girls arrived in the fictional town of Oakdale, but Lisa was their role model. She was the original diva as she plowed through more marriages than Elizabeth Taylor with a sense of humor and grace. Petulant, strong headed Lisa knew her mind and nothing would dissuade her from getting what she wanted. Fulton adapted through decades of new writers and directors, Procter & Gamble executives, and changing attitudes in the audience.
“As the World Turns” was broadcast live from CBS’s studios on 524 , where the cast could be seen roaming the halls as all the different incarnations of CBS Morning News came and went. They were on the famously on the air when Walter Cronkite broke in with the news of the Kennedy assassination. The Gayle King version had better do something nice for Eileen Fulton this week. She was the steadiest anchor they had for decades.
