Has Alice ever had a big storyline, back in the seventies?...

Like all of Irna Phillips' matriarchal characters (Nancy Hughes, Mary Matthews, Alice Horton, etc.), Alice never really had a major storyline. During the hey-days of their respective soaps, these matriarchs were considered the "leading ladies" of their shows, so viewers seldom realized that the characters almost never had storylines of their own. They got loads of air-time, and were involved in most major storylines. Still, those storylines revolved around other, younger characters, not the matriarchs themselves.

The closest thing Alice Horton ever had to a major storyline was her breast-cancer arc, in the mid-70s. It was respectful and well done, but brief and secondary to everything else happening with Bill/Laura, Doug/Julie, Mike/Trish.

Nancy Hughes has had only two brief storylines in over fifty-years. One, in the early 1960s, when Chris slept with another woman, and again in the early 1990s, during second husband, Dan's stuggle with Alzhiemer's disease.

AW's Mary Matthews never had a storyline of her own.

This is the first I have heard of Chris Hughes sleeping with another woman! Please supply details.

As mentioned,these tentpole characters provided stability to contrast with all the problems family and friends were experiencing.Occasionally,there would be misunderstandings,but they were always resolved.

Bill and Bert Bauer were an exception,as he had a drinking problem,an affair and was eventually killed off.