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News18
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News18
Eileen Fulton, Soap Opera Icon, Dies At 91
Veteran actress Eileen Fulton, known for her role as Lisa Grimaldi on "As the World Turns," passed away on July 14, 2025, at 91. Veteran actress Eileen Fulton, a beloved figure in daytime television and a fixture on the long-running soap As the World Turns, passed away on July 14, 2025, at the age of 91. Her death followed 'a period of declining health," according to her obituary. Fulton became a household name with her portrayal of Lisa Grimaldi, a character she first introduced to audiences in 1960 under the name Lisa Miller. Over the course of 50 years, she portrayed Lisa in one of the longest and most dynamic character arcs in American soap opera history. Known for her scheming ways and tumultuous relationships including eight marriages. Lisa Grimaldi became an iconic soap character and a cornerstone of the series. Fulton's early career was grounded in the arts. Born on September 13, 1933, in Asheville, North Carolina, she earned a degree in music from Greensboro College. She began her performance journey with the outdoor theater group The Lost Colony before moving to New York to study acting under Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg at the Neighborhood Playhouse. She also took dance classes with modern dance pioneer Martha Graham. Her big break came with As the World Turns, where her evolving portrayal of Lisa won critical acclaim. 'Well, when I first started, I was a real live scheming conniving person. Not I was, I mean my character Lisa was. It was a wonderful character part," Fulton said in a 1995 interview. She later added, 'I've had great fun being dippy… I have loved every minute of it." Beyond television, Fulton also found success on stage with roles in the Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and the off-Broadway favorite The Fantasticks. Fulton was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. After retiring, she returned to North Carolina in 2019 and resided in Black Mountain. She is survived by her brother Charles Furman McLarty, niece Katherine Morris, and extended family. She was preceded in death by her parents and brother James Fulton McLarty. May her soul rest in peace! First Published: July 21, 2025, 07:50 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eileen Fulton, 'As the World Turns' soap star, dies at 91
Actor Eileen Fulton, known for her long-running role as Lisa Grimaldi on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns," has died at 91. Fulton died July 14 in Asheville, N.C., after a period of declining health, according to an obituary posted by Groce Funeral Home in North Carolina. She would become one of the longest-serving soap opera actors, playing Lisa with only a few interruptions from 1960 until the show's end in 2010. Fulton played the character as a villain, telling The Times in 1990 that Lisa was initially "a conniving, screaming witch" who "lied and wanted everything her way," a characterization that led fans to scorn her. Throughout the course of the show, Lisa was married eight times. But over time, Lisa evolved and "matured and learned from her mistakes." Fulton said she began to receive "love letters" from fans who admired the character's spunk. Fulton was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Fulton was born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty on Sept. 13, 1933 in Asheville. The daughter of a Methodist minister and a public school teacher, she graduated from Greensboro College in 1956 with a bachelor's degree in music and performed in an outdoor drama in North Carolina before moving to New York to pursue a career in acting, according to her obituary. She later adopted the stage name Eileen Fulton, and in 1960, she was cast in the drama "Girl of the Night." In addition to her soap opera career, Fulton had a cabaret act for years in New York and Los Angeles. She retired in 2019 and moved to Black Mountain, N.C. She is survived by her brother, Charles Furman McLarty, a niece and other family members. Sign up for Screen Gab, a free newsletter about the TV and movies everyone's talking about from the L.A. Times. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Solve the daily Crossword
Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
As the World Turns star Eileen Fulton dead at 91: Actress played iconic 'bad girl' for half a century
As the World Turns star Eileen Fulton, who acted on the legendary soap opera on and off for half a century, has died at the age of 91. She won the hearts of fans as the scenery-chewing 'bad girl' Lisa Grimaldi, a role she originated in 1960 and played for the final time on the show's last episode in 2010. Fulton has revealed that although Lisa was conceived as a 'sweet girl next door,' she felt the character was insufficiently interesting and so she delivered her lines in a 'conniving' fashion that prompted the writers to change course and make her sinister. Over the decades her character grew from a young 'vixen' - whom Time magazine once branded a 'superb****' - into a gentler grande dame. At one point during the show, Fulton famously had a 'granny clause' installed in her contract that would prevent Lisa from having grandchildren, for fear that she would be written off the show if her character were seen as old and irrelevant. She died July 14 in her hometown of Ashville, North Carolina 'after a period of declining health,' according to an obituary from the local Groce Funeral Home. Although she was born in Asheville in 1933, she had a peripatetic childhood as a result of her father's vocation as a Methodist minister. She had the performing bug from the age of two, when she cut into one of her father's services by singing the old folk song Shortnin' Bread and braved the resultant spanking, she told the Washington Post. Fulton majored in music at Greensboro College and her father got her a job in a church choir, but she was determined to move to New York City, harboring dreams 'of being the greatest actress on Broadway.' After studying under the seminal acting teachers Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg, as well as modern dance pioneer Martha Graham, she embarked on a showbiz career that finally took off in 1960 when she was cast on As the World Turns. Over the next 50 years, she repeatedly left the show - 'I've quit forever three times,' she once drily remarked - but always wound up coming back. In the early years of the show, Fulton worked tirelessly to juggle the soap and the New York stage, acting in such shows as The Fantasticks and as a replacement in the original Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. But her most enduring role, the one that cemented her position in showbiz history, was as the stylish and ruthlessly conniving Lisa on As the World Turns. She cycled through a dizzying succession of what eventually turned out to be eight husbands, remaining herself a consistently tantalizing presence on the show. Fulton was the one who changed the character from the 'sweet girl' she was originally conceived as into the scenery-chewing villainess she became. Since the show was filmed live, she felt she could not 'change her lines' but she could 'change my intentions once we were on the air,' she told the Television Academy.
