Helen Wagner
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Helen Wagner | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | September 3, 1918 Lubbock, Texas, U.S.   |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Willey (1954-Present) |
Helen Wagner (born September 3, 1918) is an American actress. She was born in Lubbock, Texas.
Wagner has played matriarch Nancy Hughes McClosky on the soap opera As The World Turns (with only a few interruptions), since the show's debut in April 1956. This has earned her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records[1] as the actor with the longest tenure in a single television role. Wagner spoke the first lines of the program: "Good morning, dear."
She has taken some breaks, both voluntary and involuntary. After six months in the role of Nancy, show creator Irna Phillips fired her because she did not favor the way Wagner poured coffee. After an overwhelming consensus was reached to hire her back, Irna did so begrudgingly.
Wagner left the show again in the early 1980s. Then-producer Mary-Ellis Bunim wished to take the show in a different direction; the show fell out of the top slot in the daytime Nielsen ratings, and Bunim wished to gear the program toward the younger generation by showcasing the Hughes family less. Wagner and co-star Don MacLaughlin walked away from the show after vocal dissent in the press. However, she returned to the role in 1985. After many years of little to no part in the story, Wagner returned to the screen with a pivotal role in a 2004 storyline, revolving around her grandson's marriage to naïve teenager Alison Stewart (played by Jessica Dunphy).
Although Wagner has played Nancy for more than 50 years, she has never won a Daytime Emmy Award for her work. She was finally awarded a "Lifetime Achievement Award" for her role on the show in May 2004. She was also prominently featured in the show's 50th anniversary episode in April 2006.
In 1988, Wagner's alma mater, Monmouth College (IL), awarded her with an honorary degree of "Doctor of Humane Letters". The following year, Wagner chaired a national committee that raised more than $1 million to replace the school's "little theater" with a state-of the art theater. On the opening night in Monmouth's new theater, Wagner played the role of Eleanor in The Lion In Winter.
Wagner also played the role of Trudy Bauer during the first few television years of Guiding Light in the early 1950s.
