Actress Eileen Fulton, best known for playing the first 'bad girl' of daytime television as Lisa Miller in As the World Turns, has died at the age of 91. She passed away on 14 July in Asheville, North Carolina, following a period of declining health, her family confirmed.
Fulton first appeared in the CBS soap in May 1960 and remained with the show until it went off air in September 2010. Despite three temporary exits, including a stint on her own primetime spin-off Our Private World, she always returned. Her 50-year run made her one of the longest-serving soap actors in US television history.
Born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty, she was raised in Asheville and moved to New York after graduating from Greensboro College with a music degree in 1956. She studied with acting coaches Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg, and made her feature debut in 1960's Girl of the Night.
Fulton was also a singer and writer, performing cabaret for years and co-writing two autobiographies: How My World Turns (1970) and As My World Still Turns (1995). She also penned a series of murder-mystery books and a novel titled Soap Opera. She retired in 2019 and moved back to North Carolina.
Fulton was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. She is survived by her brother, niece, and sister-in-law. Her funeral service will be held on 9 August.
