Soap icon Eileen Fulton dies at age of 91 as family confirm sad death

Actress Eileen Fulton has sadly died at the age of 91. Theiconic soap star was best known for her work as the first bad girl of daytime television for her role as Lisa Miller in As the World Turns.

Eileen sadly passed away on 14 July in Asheville, North Carolina, at the age of 91 following a period of declining health, her family confirmed on the Groce Funeral Home website, sharing that her funeral service will be held on August 9.

Eileen first appeared in As the World Turns in May 1960, remaining in the castuntil the CBS show went off air in September 2010. While she did exit the soap three times, including when she took time out to film her own primetime spin-off Our Private World, she always returned to the soap that made her famous.

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Her 50-year stint on the series made her one of the longest-starring soap actors in US TV history, despite the role initially being created as a short-term character. Eileen - whose real name was Margaret Elizabeth McLarty - was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and received a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.

Eileen was raised in Asheville and moved to New York to pursue an acting career after graduating from Greensboro College with a music degree in 1956. While in NYC she studied with famed acting coaches Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg at the Neighborhood Playhouse, as well as dance teacher Martha Graham, and her feature debut came in 1960 in Girl of the Night.

Eileen was also a writer and singer and performed a cabaret act for years in venues in both New York and Los Angeles.
At one point during her time on As the World Turns - which was then broadcast live - she was also appearing on Broadway in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf and in off-Broadway musical The Fantasticks.

She co-wrote her first autobiography, How My World Turns, in 1970 and jointly wrote her second, As My World Still Turns, 25 years later. Eileen also wrote a series of murder-mystery books and a novel titled Soap Opera.

She retired in 2019 and moved back to North Carolina. Eileen is survived by her brother, Charles Furman McLarty, niece Katherine Morris and their children, and her sister-in-law Chris Page McLarty. The actress was married and divorced three times over the years.

Instead of flowers, Eileen's family has asked for donations to be made to the Reverend James B. McLarty Music Scholarship, or the Margaret Glenn McLarty ’28 and Eileen Fulton Music Scholarship Fund. Reminiscing about her As The World Turns character, Eileen once said, "She’s a romantic, that’s why she falls in love so much."

Eileen also previously told Morning Edition how a fan of the show had once slapped her in the face in the street over her character's bad girl antics. She laughed as she said, "They love to hate me," before admitting her emotions over the soap coming to an end as she added, "I'm very sad about it; I'm sad for the fans. We are family."

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