Agnes Nixon lists her Top 8 all-time favorite AMC characters

[ghfan89]

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/entertainment/20100627_Jonathan_Storm__Emmys_salute_Rosemont_s_Agnes_Nixon__queen_of_soaps.html?viewAll=y

Jonathan Storm: All of Agnes' Children

Agnes Nixon seems to think of all the characters in All My Children as all her children, frequently chuckling when she remembers some of the more eccentric ones who have popped out of her head. But even she can't keep track of the more than 150 major characters who have turned up on the show.

After considerable deliberation, she came up with these eight favorites:

Erica Kane (Susan Lucci): The pole around which everything spins. "She does outrageous things, but the audience knows that, as much havoc as she causes in the lives of others, she torments herself even more."

Tad Martin (Matthew Anton, 1973-1977; John E. Dunn, 1978-1981; Michael E. Knight): At Johns Hopkins for some surgery, Nixon heard of a little boy who refused to eat anything unless it was slathered with ketchup, and that signaled the arrival of little Tad on AMC. Abandoned by his evil father and adopted by Ruth and Joe Martin, he grew up on the show, eventually marrying five women and bedding who-can-count-how-many more.

Angie (Debbi Morgan) and Jessie (Darnell Williams) Hubbard: The couple have had their ups and downs, most notably when Jessie, working to become a cop, was shot dead. Ahh, but he was only in hiding - for 20 years. "One of the few happy couples in soapdom," Nixon says.

Adam and Stuart Chandler (David Canary): Evil billionaire Adam was married 11 times to eight women. He kept his simpleminded, good-natured twin, Stuart, locked in the west wing of the family mansion. "David Canary is the best actor I have ever known," Nixon says.

Greenlee Smythe (Rebecca Budig): "A poor little rich girl" and "a ripple under the surface," Greenlee was modeled to some extent after Gloria Vanderbilt, Nixon says. Except that Vanderbilt didn't grow up with a mean father who turned out not to be her father at all. Budig quit the show in 2005, was replaced two years later by Sabine Singh, but returned to the role, somewhat controversially, in 2008. Greenlee magically transformed from Singh to Budig overnight between Jan. 15 and 16.

Verla Grubbs (Carol Burnett): "She was born in the carnival. Her mother was the tattooed lady," Nixon says, chuckling. Burnett, such a fan of All My Children that the producers send her tapes when she's on vacation, "was only on for two weeks, but it was unforgettable."

- Jonathan Storm

[quartermainefan]

This list is all acceptable save one. Erica is already on the list, no need for any pint sized pretenders. I will say this about Verla: she was only on briefly but she was memorable. Carol Burnett did a good job.

[marceline]

Replace Greenlee with Myrtle Fargate and we have a deal.

[R Sinclair]

The sad thing is, Erica would be a more compelling character today if she stayed true to that. Somewhere along the line, maybe late 1990's after kidnapping Maddie, she stopped being a fleshed out character and started becoming a flat untouchable "diva" persona.

ETA: Why a "Top-8" list? Why stop short of an even Top Ten?

[OLTL_fan]

No list for OLTL? Why am i not surprised?

[All My Shadows]

Because almost all of the characters Agnes created for OLTL are long gone and have been for decades?

[LoyaltoAMC]

Please, I wish people would stop with this OLTL as redhead stepchild mentality. Agnes only wrote the show for five years (68-73) before Gordon Russell started flying solo, and she was really only fully involved as HW for two of those years--68-69--until she began AMC in 1970. For whatever reasons, she's been fully or somewhat involved with AMC for just about its entire run, so it's only natural that she would choose characters from AMC. Most of OLTL's memorable and iconic characters (possibly besides Viki) were created by people like Russell, Sam Hall, Peggy O'Shea, and Michael Malone.

[NYC123]

I liked what she said about Greenlee.

But Overall good list.

[R Sinclair]

THANK YOU!

[marceline]

Mommy loves AMC more. Deal.

[OLTL_fan]

All of that is true, OLTL is the redheaded stepchild of ABC daytime. Kassie DePaiva even said in an interview, ABC favors GH and AMC over OLTL and theres nothing they could do to change their minds.

Also Nixon couldve said something nice about creating the character of Victoria Lord and Niki Smith. All she talks about is Erika Kane Erika Kane Erika Kane. Im sick and tired of hearing about Erika Kane!!

[All My Shadows]

Yeah, there's something OLTL can do to change their minds. OLTL can get in a time machine (or just get struck by lightning, since that happens to be their thang), go back to each one of the last 42 years and possess as part of its cast an iconic couple like Luke and Laura or an iconic character like Erica Kane. But since OLTL can't do that, it will indeed always be the "slow" one.

[Darn]

Hasn't she said that Carla Gray's story was the one she was most proud of?

[OLTL_fan]

Judith Light as Karen Wolek? One of the best scenes in TV history.

[SFK]

So much so that you spelled her name like Erika Slezak. I understand how you feel, but just as iconic singers have their signature songs, AMC is Agnes' signature show, the one she's been the most involved with, the one that is nearest and dearest to her heart. We have to remember that she created AMC back when she was still working for P&G, on paper, it's older than OLTL. That's how we got Erica and Mona on AW in the form of Rachel and Ada.

Speaking of which, I thought it was a nice touch to include Robin Strasser in the tribute even if Agnes didn't create Dorian, because fans like us know the Robin/Rachel history, through Cristina Karras, to Dorian.

But Agnes has said some wonderful and interesting things about One Life over the years, sometimes it just takes a little more digging to get to that stuff. EVERY time I've seen her talk about Carla Gray she chokes up and her eyes fill with tears.

If anything, I think the Loving fans are feeling the most gypped, was there ANY mention of Loving during that tribute?

I also agree that "Top 8" is an odd number. My guess is that the reporter asked he to start naming some names and she did it off the cuff and he kind of worked out a list. (??) I guess he could have divided some of those couples to make ten, but adding in some more like Palmer or Myrtle or Billy Clyde to round it out would have been nice.

And Phoebe!