Eileen Fulton (born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty; September 13, 1933)[1] is an American actress, singer, and author.
She is known for her television role as Lisa Grimaldi on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, which she played almost continuously for 50 years, from May 18, 1960, until the show's ending on September 17, 2010.
Fulton has appeared in theatrical productions, including the original Broadway run of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
After graduation, her father found her a job working with a local church choir, but she wanted to move to New York.
[2][3] Fulton made her professional acting debut in the play The Lost Colony in Manteo, North Carolina.
[5] She was cast as Lisa Mae Bailey in the drama film Girl of the Night (1960), co-starring with Anne Francis.
When mother-in-law Nancy complimented Lisa on what a nice home she made for her son Bob, the audience became furious, stopping Fulton on the street and slapping her.
Another time, when the show's producer and head writer, Irna Phillips, refused to tell her if Lisa was the culprit during a murder mystery, Fulton told her, "We're live–don’t forget.
[1] Fulton replaced Melinda Dillon as Honey in the original Broadway production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
There was only a 30-minute window between the time ATWT concluded its live broadcast at 2:00 pm, and the beginning of the first act of Virginia Woolf.
She had time to travel from CBS' studios to the Billy Rose Theatre and get into costume because her character did not appear on stage for the first 20 minutes.
[12] Her other theater credits include Many Loves, Any Wednesday, Sabrina Fair, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Nite Club Confidential, Plaza Suite, It Had To be You, The Owl and the Pussycat, Goodbye Charlie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
[7] In 1965, Irna Phillips, the head writer of ATWT, created a primetime spin-off series, Our Private World, focused on the character of Lisa.
[16] She was briefly absent from ATWT in the late 1970s and the role of Lisa was recast with actress Lynn Rogers.
[3] Fans, believing that the "granny clause" as it had become known, was still in effect (which it was not), sent Fulton so much threatening "hate mail" when Lisa's onscreen daughter-in-law, Margo, had a miscarriage in 1986, that she again had to have a bodyguard.
[15] Fulton wrote a fiction novel titled Soap Opera, loosely based on her experiences on As the World Turns.
[22] On June 1, 2000, ATWT aired a special clip montage to honor Fulton and her co-star Don Hastings' 40th anniversaries on the show.
[24] She played Joyce Singleton in the drama film Tinsel Town (2005), written and directed by Kenneth del Vecchio.
In the episode, the show's younger cast members re-enacted classic scenes of Lisa and Nancy (Helen Wagner).
[11] In July 2011, she played Mrs. Higgins in a Connecticut Repertory Theatre production of My Fair Lady, co-starring with Terrence Mann.