This makes me so sad. Rest in Peace. You will be missed, darling. </3

RIP I wish I'd gotten to watch her Ruth onscreen

Like everyone else, this makes me very sad.

Mary's Ruth looked so much like my grandmother, but they had entirely different personalities. My grandmother was cold and always incredibly judgmental and critical about every little thing and did a hatchet job on my self-esteem any time we were together. MF's Ruth was like my TV grandma, looking just like my real grandma but possessing all the qualities I desperately wished my grandmother did. I just found her on-screen presence so comforting. And as Ray MacDonnell has said, she wasn't acting; that was Mary. I remember being sooooooo happy when, after being off the show for years, it was announced that she was going to reprise Ruth for the Christmas episode in 1998.

I'm curious how they're going to dedicate a show to her since nobody currently works at AMC to do the "In Loving Memory" edit.

Is Ruth going to be on again before the show ends? Has Lee Meriweather taped anything?

I believe that Lee and Ray are coming back for the finale.

But Mary Fickett will always be Ruth to me. She played such a maternal strong woman. She and Kate Martin to me along with Mona and Phoebe seemed to set the stage for the long legacy of strong women written on this show. Its sad that really only Erica and Angie remain from that mold set so many years ago.

Edited September 10, 201114 yr by JaneAusten

No! RIP, Mary.

Mary was definitely the definitive Ruth. I adored her. That being said, I also enjoyed Lee.

RIP Mary. She was so wonderful as Ruth. I really believe that AMC began to slowly lose its identity when she left and the original Martin house was destroyed,which happened about the same time. There was a loss of warmth and family feeling to the show when both were gone.

RIP Mary. She was so wonderful as Ruth. I really believe that AMC began to slowly lose its identity when she left and the original Martin house was destroyed,which happened about the same time. There was a loss of warmth and family feeling to the show when both were gone.

IA.

robinstrasser robin strasser

MARY FICKETT (Ruth Martin #AMC): A true beauty- inside+out! My fondest memories of AMC include her generous gracious professional presence.

Edited September 11, 201114 yr by dragonflies

I always loved Mary Fickett, and never really accepted the otherwise-delightful Lee Meriwether as "Cat!Ruth." Godspeed.

I wonder if there would still be a dedication if Agnes and Lorraine weren't so involved with the show at the moment...well at the least the whole PP side of things.

She'd been sick for so long, but this is still a surprise. Truly sad. Let's not forget that, like a lot of AMC vets, she had a rather illustrious stage career too, Mary was nominated for a Tony for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in the original Broadway cast of "Sunrise at Campobello" and was Deborah Kerr's first replacement in the original Broadway company of "Tea and Sympathy".

Edited September 11, 201114 yr by EricMontreal22

A nice postrcript I haven't seen mentioned here was in today's Toronto Sun article:

Producers of All My Children are planning to dedicate the 21 September episode to Fickett.

The long-running series will air its final episode two days later.