The Original Cast of Soaps

[King of Pine Valley]

Here's a list of characters who were part of the original cast of "As the World Turns," when it debuted on April 2, 1956:

Chris Hughes

Nancy Hughes

Donald Hughes

Penny Hughes

Bob Hughes

Grandpa Hughes

Edith Hughes

Judge Lowell

Jim Lowell

Claire Lowell

Ellen Lowell

Can anyone tell me how many characters from ATWT's very first year are still on the show today?

[Paul Raven]

Nancy and Bob,of course.

Grandpa Hughes died when Santos Ortega passed away in the mid 70's.

Penny lives in Europe and was last seen on air around 2000(I think).

Chris died when Don McLaughlin died in 86.

Don married Mary and lives in Wyoming.Last seen in 86.

It is assumed that Judge Lowell died.The character was last seen in 79.

Ellen was dropped in 85,but never officially written out.

Jim died in 57/58. Edith left town in 60 and Claire was killed off in 71.

[King of Pine Valley]

Here's a list of characters who were part of the original cast of "All My Children," when it debuted on January 5, 1970:

Phoebe Tyler

Charles Tyler

Lincoln Tyler

Ann Tyler

Chuck Tyler

Amy Tyler

Kate Martin

Joe Martin

Jeff Martin

Tara Martin

Ruth Brent

Phil Brent

Mona Kane

Erica Kane

Nick Davis

Can anyone tell me how many characters from AMC's very first year are still on the show today?

[Pine Charles]

Original characters still on AMC today:

Erica Kane

Dr. Joe Martin

Ruth Martin (played by a different actress - not the original - and the role is now 'recurring').

Susan Lucci (Erica Kane) and Ray MacDonnell (Dr. Joe Martin) are original cast members.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Wasn't there also a character named Sydney Scott, who was a friend of Ann's? She and Ann ran the Boutique together, I think, and she later became romatically involved with Linc. Was she an original character? If not, she definitely appeared within the first year.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Alright, because I'm home with a cold tonight and have nothing better to do, I'm going to attempt to list all the actors who at one time or another played one of the original characters (without cheating on IMDB). Let me know I did, AMC afficidendos:

Joe Martin...Ray MacDonnell

Kate Martin...Kate Harrington, Kay Campbell

Jeff Martin...Chris Wines, Charles Frank, James O'Sullivan, Jeffrey Byron, Jeff(?) Tripp, John James

Tara Martin...Karen Lynn Gorney, Stephanie Braxton, Nancy Frangione, Mary Lynn Blanks

Bobby Martin (who was left off the list)...Mike Bersell

Charles Tyler...Hugh Franklin

Phoebe Tyler...Ruth Warrick

Linc Tyler...Nicholas Pryor, Peter White (I know I'm missing 1 or 2 actors here, including the actor who originated the role)

Ann Tyler...Joanna Miles, Judith Barcroft, Gwynn Gillis

Chuck Tyler...Jack Stauffer, Richard Van Vleet

Amy Tyler...Rosemary Prinz

Mona Kane...Frances Heflin

Erica Kane...Susan Lucci

Ted Brent...Mark Davis

Ruth Brent...Mary Fickett, Lee Meriwether

Philip Brent...Richard Hatch, Nick Benedict

Nick Davis...Larry Keith

Quick aside/trivia point: I think the only time the Amy Tyler (Ruth's sister) was mentioned after Rosemary Prinz left the show following her six-month commitment was in the early 90s when Tad returned from the dead. Ruth mentioned to Joe how thrilled Amy was to hear the news that Tad was still alive. Am I wrong about this?

[SteveFrame]

Linden Chiles also played Lincoln. I don't remember off the top of my head if there was another actor or not.

Christine Thomas also played Kate Martin.

Here is the actual offical original cast of AMC:

Mike Bersell (Bobby Martin)

Mark Dawson (Ted Brent)

Diana de Vegh (Ann Tyler)

Paul Dumont (Lincon Tyler)

Mary Fickett (Ruth Brent)

Hugh Franklin (Dr. Charles Tyler)

Karen Gorney (Tara Martin)

Richard Hatch (Philip Brent)

Hilda Haynes (Lois Sloane)

Frances Heflin (Mona Kane)

Lawrence Keith (Nick Davis)

Susan Lucci (Erica Kane)

Ray MacDonnell (Dr. Joseph Martin)

Rosemary Prinz (Amy Tyler)

Jack Stauffer (Chuck Tyler)

Christine Thomas (Kate Martin)

Ruth Warrick (Phoebe Tyler)

Many list Jeff since he did come on very soon, but he was not in the original cast of characters.

I just looked at my post. Paul Dumont was the original Lincoln. I had forgotten that.

[EricMontreal22]

Amy was mentioned in the 70s still--they talk about this briefly in All Her Children when Agnes talks about when youhave to "lop off" past storylines (ie it becomes too much baggage and confusing to a viewer to ALWAYS mention all the past love relationships of a character so you just quit mentioning them, etc) and when not to.

Poor Mike Bersell--out of a job so quickly How old was Bobby6 anyway--a teenager like his sister Tara?

[EricMontreal22]

The Lowells as a major force didn't last very long, did they? For one of two core families I mean

[SteveFrame]

The Lowell family & their heirs were part of the show until the mid 80's in a direct way. Really they are still a part of it since Emily is still there and she is the Great-Great-Granddaughter of Judge Lowell.

Judge Lowell was a big part of the show through the early 70's and then he just kind of faded out in about 1977. He was a big part of being there as confidant for his daughter-in-law Claire and his granddaugther Ellen.

[Paul Raven]

James Karen was the original Linc Tyler. I have never seen Linden Chiles listed as playing Linc.Was he a temporary fill in?

Agnes was obviously not happy with some of the original cast.

I read that Diana DeVagh only lasted a few episodes as Anne. and Joanna Miles only lasted till 71.

James Karen,Nicholas Pryor and Paul Dumont were all gone by 71.

There were 3 Chucks before Richard Van Vleet took over in 75.

Christopher Wines was quicly replaced as Jeff in 70.

Both Christine Thomas and Kate Harrington played Kate in 1970 before Kay Campbell was lured out of retirement by Agnes.

Bobby was written out.Why did Agnes just drop the character?Bobby could have been sent somewhere to school and returned a few years later to lead a new young love story.

Same with Amy.When the show went to an hour and they needed to fill out the cast,she could have returned,perhaps with a child.Maybe she could have filled the role taken by Ellen Shepherd.I know that Kathleen Noone was younger than Rosemary Prinz but would you have accepted her as an Amy recast?

For Agnes to say that the past sometimes has to be ignored so as not to confuse viewers bothers me, in that it is often more confusing and annoying that past characters do not return or are not mentioned.

AMC was only 5 yrs old when she made that statement.

[LoyaltoAMC]

Paul, I'm pretty sure that Ellen appeared at least through the early/mid 90s. Patsy Bruder was still under contract when Doug Marland died in 92/93 and I'm pretty sure she was around, though maybe recurring, when teenage Dani Andropolous was introduced in the mid-90s.

[SteveFrame]

Patricia Bruder was officially dropped from the show on August 17th, 1998 - after being on the show since December 1960. She returned for one day on November 30th, 1998.

Henderson Forsythe last appeared as her husband David in 1990. His character died in 1991.

[SteveFrame]

I was confusing Lincoln with a character on Secret Storm. Linden Chiles was on The Secret Storm and not AMC. Sorry about that.

I took that original cast list for AMC from a book called Soaps The History Part One. They list Paul Dumont as the original Lincoln. But I just checked Schemering and he also lists as you do that James Karen was the original Lincoln - so not sure.

I don't remember off hand that Lincoln was gone from the show, but Schemering shows Lincoln being off the show from 1971 to 1974.

Nixon seemed to follow suit with Irna here on casting AMC. Irna went through so many actors when she was casting AW and Agnes seemed to follow in her footprints here with several of the characters.

The Bobby Martin mystery has always been one of the big guffaws of daytime soaps. He went up into the attic one day to get his skis and never came back down. I remember when years later Agnes poked fun at herself when she had Opal find Bobby's skeleton in the attic at the Martin house.

I have always wanted to ask Erika Slezak if she still has any regrets about not getting the role of Mary Kennicott after all these years. I remember reading years ago that she really wanted that role and almost got it.

[EricMontreal22]

Yeah I dunno why they decided to just drop all reference of Bobby--it's mentioned in All her Children--she mentions it but says they just forgot about him for so long they decided to "lop off" that story. but that sounds liek uncharacteristaically sloppy writing to me