Former Partner in Java Underground Owner of Mona Lisa Restaurant Co-owner of the Lakeview Hotel Former owner of Argus newspaper Formerly wrote a gossip column under the pseudonym "Dolly Valentine" Former Co-Owner of Fashions Limited Partner in Get Real Fashions Former Manager of Wade Book Shop
Lisa Grimaldi is a fictional character from the CBSsoap opera, As the World Turns. The character was portrayed by Eileen Fultonfor 50 years from May 1960, until the last episode aired in September 2010, with Fulton becoming one of the longest-serving soap opera actors in the United States. Lisa is considered to be the first soap "vixen" and was one half of the first ever super couple, Bob and Lisa Hughes.
As the World Turns creator and longtime head writer Irna Phillips created Lisa in the late 1950s as a short-term character. In a 2007 interview with the Archive of American Television, Fulton explained that ATWT's casting director contacted her agent, wanting to audition another of his clients, Lois Smith, for the role, but because Smith was unavailable, he recommended they audition Fulton instead. Lisa was kept on the As the World Turns canvas due to Fulton's day-to-day acting improvement. A Procter & Gamble executive said to Fulton six months into her run as Lisa, "I want to tell you what a wonderful job you are doing, because when you first came on the show we thought, 'We can't keep her. She's not very good.'"[1]
Fulton's eagerness to play Lisa as a villainess contributed to the character's popularity and therefore its longevity. In the Archive of American Television interview, Fulton explained that the character was originally written to be a "nice girl", which she did not find compelling as an actress, and that, while she read Phillips' lines exactly as they appeared on the script, she said them with a "scheming tone" in her voice. When Phillips saw Fulton's performance she said "I can write for that little rascal. She can play a bitch!"[1] In The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, Christopher Schermering writes, "Although Lisa was guilty of many lapses, nothing made her more hated by her audience of housewives than a simple sequence in which she hired a maid to clean house and went gallivanting about town. When mother-in-law Nancy complimented Lisa on what a nice home she had made for Bob, audiences were furious."[2]
A scheming "vixen" in her early years,TIME magazine once referred to Lisa as a "superbitch" and the "most hated woman on TV."[3] Since those days, Lisa has gone on to become a well-respected presence in Oakdale (the fictional town in which As the World Turns is set), often offering advice and support to the town's younger residents.
When the character of Lisa was introduced in 1960, the name "Lisa," which had only seen a popular resurgence in the previous ten years, was the sixth most popular baby name in the United States.[4] Fulton's Lisa was credited with speeding up the popularity of the name for baby girls; "Lisa" became the most popular name for girls between the years of 1962 and 1969.[4]
Lisa back in a 1960s episode
The character departed on May 3, 1965, and briefly crossed over into her own primetime spinoff series, Our Private World, for a few months in 1965, during which Lisa left Oakdale and moved to Chicago. She returned to Oakdale on January 16, 1967, where she remained until the final episode in 2010.
Recasts for Lisa were Pamela King filling in as Lisa during 1964 and Betsy von Furstenberg playing the role from late 1983 to early 1984 during a contract dispute between Ms. Fulton and Procter & Gamble. On multiple occasions from 1991 to 1994, former movie actress Jane Powell and soap opera veterans Maeve McGuire replaced Ms. Fulton during that same the time period as did soap opera veteran Jennifer Bassey. Australian actress Carmen Duncan, best known to American audiences for her role as Iris #3 on Another World, filled in for Fulton for three episodes in late 2004 while she was on emergency medical leave.
By the 1970s, Fulton's Lisa was always credited at the end of each program, after the names of the rest of the cast appeared in the credits. The character had become so integral to the story on As the World Turns that by 1987, actress Fulton was credited with playing the role of "Lisa" at the end of each day's show, and not with a surname (which was Mitchell at that time; Lisa had many marriages through the years). Fulton would be credited simply as playing "Lisa" with no character surname until the show ended its run in 2010. In its final years, Fulton along with a number of other veteran actors were rarely seen on canvas. In a 2009 interview, Fulton was confused as to why the writers found it so difficult to write for older characters. "It could be an age thing, but one of my favorite soaps is the British series EastEnders. They have no problem with featuring older actors. And giving them romantic and dramatic storylines."[5]
Character history
Bob and "Scheming Lisa"
The character first appeared in May 1960, as the fiancée of medical student Bob Hughes (Don Hastings). They soon eloped when they discovered that Lisa was pregnant. Though Bob's and Lisa's parents were at first opposed to their marriage (they believed the pair to be too young), they accepted it when they learned of Lisa's pregnancy. The young couple moved in with Bob's parents, Chris (Don MacLaughlin) and Nancy Hughes (Helen Wagner), while Bob finished his residency at Oakdale Memorial Hospital. Lisa initially demonstrated her scheming ways by faking "difficulties" with her pregnancy to get out of helping her new mother-in-law with the household chores. However, Nancy and Lisa eventually became very close, forming a bond that would remain intact for decades (even after Lisa and Bob divorced). Lisa's new sister-in-law, however, Penny Hughes (Rosemary Prinz) (who also was still living with Chris and Nancy) and Lisa took an immediate dislike to one another. Penny, who had lost a baby, and recently learned she could no longer have children, resented Lisa's pregnancy. Lisa disliked Penny and her best friend Ellen Lowell (Patricia Bruder), who she felt thought they were better than herself, while Ellen and Penny found Lisa to be an idle gossip. The animosity between Penny and Lisa led to considerable tension in the Hughes home, with Lisa exploiting Penny's emotional estrangement from Chris and Nancy, attempting to further alienate Penny from her parents. (Though Lisa and Penny would eventually become a bit more friendly as they both matured, Lisa maintained an adversarial relationship with Ellen right up until Ellen left Oakdale in the late 1990s.)
A year into Bob and Lisa's marriage, after their son Tom was born, Lisa became tired of living as the wife of a young resident, resenting Bob's long hours in the hospital. She had an affair with flashy businessman Bruce Elliott, asking him to take her with him when she left town, but he told her the affair was just a diversion for him, and that he cared nothing for her. Meanwhile, Bob, whom she had already alienated, had found out about the relationship and divorced Lisa. Lisa responded by poisoning Tom's mind against his father, eventually fleeing to California with Tom, without Bob's knowledge. When Bob finally tracked them down, he found Lisa in a near-catatonic state, following a brutal rape. He brought her back to Oakdale, enlisting the help of Sylvia Hill, a nurse with whom Bob had been involved. Once Lisa recovered from the trauma, she attempted to guilt Sylvia into ending her relationship with Bob, falsely suggesting that she was the only thing preventing Bob and Lisa to reconcile. Nancy also cautioned Sylvia that Lisa was the only person she would ever accept as her daughter-in-law. Though Sylvia eventually decided to end her relationship with Bob, Bob informed Lisa that he was not interested in a reconciliation with her.
Our Private World
Rejected, Lisa moved to Chicago in mid-1965 (with the character relocating to the primetime soap Our Private World), where she became involved with the Eldridge brothers. She married wealthy John Eldridge, but soon began a torrid affair with his brother Tom. When the affair was revealed, Lisa fled Chicago in disgrace. It was revealed in the early 1990s that Lisa was in fact pregnant when she left, and that the Eldridge family had paid Lisa a hefty divorce settlement, in exchange for her having nothing to do with her baby. The baby, Scott Eldridge, was presumably born during the several-month-long lapse between when Our Private World went off the air in the fall of 1965 and when Lisa returned to As the World Turns in the spring of 1966. Viewers were not made aware of Scott's existence until he tracked Lisa down as an adult in 1992.
Return to Oakdale
Several months after leaving Chicago, Lisa resurfaced in Oakdale, and began having an affair with Dr. Michael Shea, a charming, manipulativesociopath. Though she asked Michael to leave his wife so they could be married, especially after Lisa discovered she was pregnant, Michael refused. After Lisa's baby, Charles "Chuckie" Shea was born, Lisa told Michael's wife about the affair and her son. Clare was drinking, something she did a lot of in those days. Claire told Michael she wanted him to marry Lisa and make his son legitimate. Claire then let it slip that there had been another illegitimate child in the family. Michael put things together and figured out that Ellen was the mother of that child and that her son was Dr. Dan Stewart, a bright young doctor that Shea resented. He made it his business to tell Dan the truth. When Claire learned this, she stabbed him with a letter opener. Michael, who had been let go from Memorial Hospital after the loss of a patient, agreed to keep quiet about what Claire had done if he could be reinstated. Claire divorced Michael.
A short while later, Michael decided that he wanted to play a role in his son's life, and tried to get Lisa to marry him, but by this time, she wanted nothing to do with him. Around the same time, Lisa's son Tom had returned from Vietnam with a drug habit. One night, Michael caught Tom breaking into his office to steal drugs, and Michael used this information to blackmail Lisa into marrying him. By this time, Lisa hated Michael with a passion, and though she did marry him (to save Tom), she refused to have any kind of a sexual relationship with him. Michael responded by orchestrating a series of events designed to make Lisa appear as an unfit mother, so he could divorce her and sue for custody of Chuckie. However, in early 1970, Michael was murdered, and Lisa was nowhere to be found. Tom was the prime suspect, and, thinking his mother had committed the murder, he said little to demonstrate his innocence. When Lisa returned to town, she could not remember the events leading to Michael's murder, but eventually the murder was revealed to have been committed by the mother of a young woman with whom Michael had had an affair.
Lisa had a few more flings, including one with Bob's older brother, Don Hughes, attorney Dick Martin, minister Wally Matthews, and the rich Simon Gilby. Around this time, she believed herself to be pregnant, though her doctor revealed Lisa suffered from an ovarian cyst.
Lisa, Grant and Joyce
In 1973, Tom and his young brother Chuckie were struck by another driver. Though Tom survived, Chuckie was killed in the accident. The grief was almost too much for Lisa to bear but she received a great deal of support and love from her former mother-in-law Nancy Hughes, as well as from a new man in her life, Grant Colman (James Douglas), an attorney who had recently joined Chris Hughes' law firm. Grant and Lisa fell in love and planned to be married, but on the day of the ceremony, Grant's ex-wife crashed their wedding to announce that during their marriage, she and Grant had had a son of whom Grant was unaware. Grant postponed the wedding to investigate, and determined that he and Joyce had indeed had a son who had since been adopted. He decided not to interfere in the boy's life, and let him remain with his adoptive parents. Grant and Lisa were finally married, but Joyce continued to scheme and interfere in their lives, and for a while they also had to contend with the equally scheming Valerie Conway was also attempting to seduce both Bob and Grant at the same time. Lisa eventually pointed Valerie in Bob's direction, so she would stay away from Grant.
Though Grant and Lisa were very happy together, Lisa's ongoing jealousy of Joyce and later Valerie continue to be a problem, and at one point, Grant asked Lisa for a divorce. Lisa pretended to be ill, and staged an elaborate scheme designed to demonstrate Valerie's true calculating ways. Though she succeeded in this, Grant and Lisa's lives continued to be complicated, this time by a new woman, Tina Cornell, who had a played a role in the previous manipulations involving Valerie, and was injured as a result. Lisa invited Tina to recuperate with her and Grant. Tina told Lisa that she had developed agoraphobia, but she in fact was becoming obsessed with Grant. When Lisa discovered this, she ordered Tina to leave, but Grant saw this as just another case of Lisa's jealousy. He and Lisa separated, but when Tina attempted to seduce him, he realized that Lisa had been right all along.
Though he claimed to be through with scheming women, Joyce now reentered Grant's life, pretending to be terminally ill. Though Lisa disputed Joyce's claims of illness, Grant believed her and the two became engaged. He learned that Lisa was correct, but Lisa was hurt by Grant's refusal to believe her, and refused to give her relationship with Grant another try. Grant left town in late 1981, though he and Lisa would get over their bitterness and would become friends again.
Whit and Earl
In 1982, Lisa eloped with wealthy businessman Whit McColl. Their lives were soon complicated by the arrival of Lucinda Walsh, who claimed Whit was responsible for the suicide of her husband, Whit's former business partner. Lisa became very close to Whit's two sons, Brian and Kirk McColl, and when Whit was murdered in 1984, Lisa continued to serve as a mother figure to her stepsons.
Though deeply saddened by Whit's death, Lisa embarked on two new business ventures during this period that would help her through the sorrow. In 1985, Lisa joined her friends, Kim Sullivan Hughes and Barbara Ryan, to launch Fashions, a high-end boutique showcasing top designs. Kim and Barbara eventually both sold their shares in the business to Lisa; she remains the sole owner through the show's conclusion in 2010. In 1986, Lisa and Craig Montgomery purchased a restaurant formerly known as Caroline's, and reopened it as The Mona Lisa. Lisa became the sole owner when Craig left Oakdale in the late 1980s, and presumably still operates the restaurant today although it was neither seen nor referred to on camera after 2005. In addition to these two businesses, Lisa also co-owns the Lakeview Hotel with Lily Snyder.
In 1986, though Brian McColl's girlfriend Shannon O'Hara (who herself had become very close to Lisa), she met Shannon's uncle, the mysterious, charming Earl Mitchell. The two began dating, and though Earl had a mysterious side, disappearing without explanation for days on end, Lisa agreed to marry him. A few months into their marriage, Earl disappeared, and Lisa soon received a message that Earl had been kidnapped. Her ex-husband Grant returned to Oakdale to show his support. Lisa received a call from someone who claimed to know of Earl's whereabouts, but when she drove to meet him, her brakes failed. She was not injured, but started to see images of Earl and hear his voice, causing her family to worry and question her sanity. The truth about Earl was finally revealed: he was an Interpol agent who'd been killed while attempting to investigate James Stenbeck.
Later years
In 1992, Lisa stood up to her friends, Jessica Griffin (a Black woman) and Duncan McKechnie (a white man), when she voiced her objections to their plans to wed. At first Duncan and Jessica believed Lisa's objections stemmed from residual feelings for Duncan's previous wife, Shannon O'Hara, with whom Lisa bonded, serving as a mother-figure of sorts for Shannon. Lisa later told the couple her reasoning was that she was afraid of the racism they would face, even going as far as to assert that interracial marriages were "morally wrong". Through compassion and education on the parts of Duncan and Jessica toward Lisa, Lisa realized the negative impact of her public stance. She apologized to the couple, and they forgave her. Lisa warmed to Jessica and Duncan's union and was even asked to become godmother to their child, Bonnie, which she accepted.
In late 1994, Lisa married Eduardo Grimaldi, a Maltese gangster. Lisa's happiness lasted only a few weeks, because Eduardo was shot by an associate, and was rushed to Oakdale Memorial. His cousin Orlena Grimaldi sneaked into his room and killed him, resulting in Lisa believing Eduardo's death was due to medical incompetence on the part of John Dixon, who was on duty in the ER when he was brought in. Lisa sued John for malpractice, threatening to end his career, before the truth of Eduardo's death came out. John took revenge on Lisa by wooing her and proposing to her, only to publicly dump her at their engagement party. She and John remained estranged for some time, until he and their mutual friend Barbara Ryan rescued Lisa from Martin Chedwyn, a criminal who had forced Lisa to marry him as part of a scheme to smuggle assets out of Hong-Kong before the changeover in government in 1999. Lisa forgave John for the public spectacle at their engagement party, and the two remained on good terms thereafter.
In the early 2000s (decade), Lisa befriended Oakdale newcomer Isaac Jenkins, introducing Isaac to her goddaughter Bonnie McKechnie (whom he would later marry), and partnering with Isaac and Bonnie in their new club Java. She would remain involved with Java until Isaac and Bonnie left town, at that time, selling her shares in the club. She was featured in a tribute episode in May 2000, honoring Fulton's and costar Don Hastings' 40th anniversaries on the show, in which a mean spirited tabloid story causes Lisa and Bob to reminisce about key events in their lives (via flashbacks).
In more recent years, Lisa has retreated from the spotlight, interfering in the lives of her son and daughter-in-law, and mentoring Oakdale's younger residents.
In June and July 2008, Lisa became involved in the dramas between Barbara, Paul, Meg, and Sofie. This ended when Paul Ryan found Sofie dead in her hotel room. It was revealed that Cole had killed Sofie.
Lisa played a key role in organizing Tom and Margo's twenty-fifth anniversary party.
Eileen Fulton as Lisa Grimaldi in a screencap from the April 22, 2009 episode.
Lisa reappeared in April 2009 to be involved in the mystery of Luke and Noah's kidnapping.
Final years and ATWT cancellation
During the final years of ATWT, Lisa's portrayer Eileen Fulton criticized producers over the lack of airtime for her character, as well as other longtime characters, whose screentime had dramatically diminished in favor of younger cast members. In 2008, she appeared three - four times per month, but played a large role in the April 2010 episode depicting Bob and Kim's second wedding.
A special two-part tribute episode aired on May 17–18, 2010, commemorating Fulton's fiftieth anniversary on the show, and she was also prominently featured in the August 2010 episode memorializing longtime castmate Helen Wagner.
She appeared in the final episode in September 2010. In her last scenes, Lisa made peace with former fiance John Dixon and rival Lucinda Walsh.
Reception
In 2024, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Lisa 16th eighth on his ranked list of Soaps' 40 Most Iconic Characters of All Time, writing, "Eileen Fulton's wicked witch of Oakdale may have been the ultimate love-to-hate character; early on in her 50-year run, she was even chosen to headline a primetime offshoot."[6]
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light. With 13,763 hours of cumulative narrative, As the World Turns has the longest total running time of any television show. In terms of continuous run of production, As the World Turns at 54 years holds the fourth-longest run of any daytime network soap opera on American television, surpassed only by General Hospital, Guiding Light, and Days of Our Lives. As the World Turns was produced for its first 43 years in Manhattan and in Brooklyn from 2000 until 2010.
Barbara Ryan is a fictional character from the American CBS soap opera As the World Turns. In the early 1970s, Barbara was played by a succession of actresses, but the actress most associated with the role is Colleen Zenk, who played her since September 1, 1978. She is portrayed as a heroine who experienced many tragedies, mostly at the hands of her controlling ex-husband, the villainous James Stenbeck. Barbara is the daughter of Jennifer Sullivan.
Eileen Fulton 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. She also starred on Our Private World (1965), a primetime spin off of As the World Turns. For her work on ATWT, she received an Editor's Award at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1991 and a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Fulton has appeared in theatrical productions, including the original Broadway run of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She has performed a cabaret act at theaters in New York and Los Angeles. She has co-authored two autobiographies, How My World Turns and As My World Still Turns. She has also written a novel titled Soap Opera, and six murder mystery novels.
Donald Francis Michael Hastings is an American television actor, singer, and writer. He is best known for his 50-year role as Dr. Robert "Bob" Hughes on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns. For his work on As the World Turns, Hastings received an Editor's Award at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1998 and a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. In the 1940s, he appeared on Broadway in I Remember Mama, On Whitman Avenue, A Young Man's Fancy, and Summer and Smoke. He also starred as the Video Ranger on DuMont's Captain Video and His Video Rangers and as Jack Lane on the CBS soap opera The Edge of Night.
Nancy Hughes McClosky is a fictional character from the CBS Daytime soap opera As the World Turns. Portrayed by Helen Wagner for 54 years from the soap's inception in 1956 until 2010. Nancy served as the core family's and, by extension, the town's matriarch.
Thomas "Tom" Hughes and Margo Montgomery Hughes are fictional characters and a supercouple on the American CBS daytime drama As the World Turns. The pairing has been called "one of the greatest examples of the action-adventure and fantasy romance of soaps during [the early 1980s]." For most of the last two decades of the show, Tom was played by Scott Holmes and Margo was played by Ellen Dolan. On internet message boards, the couple is often referred by the portmanteau "Tomargo".
Lucinda Walsh is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns (ATWT). Elizabeth Hubbard played the role from April 1984 until the show's final episode on September 17, 2010. The character is described as a no-nonsense businesswoman and mega-mogul who transformed into one of daytime's most memorable and prolific characters. Hubbard left the show briefly in March 1999, but returned in August of that year. A loving mother and grandmother, while still retaining her edge fiery nature, she has been front and center in some of the show's biggest stories.
Hal Munson is a fictional character that appeared on the American soap opera As the World Turns. He was played by Benjamin Hendrickson from 1985 to 2004 and 2005 to 2006.
Casey Robert Hughes is a fictional character on the soap opera As the World Turns. He is the only child of Margo Montgomery and Tom Hughes. He was last played by Zach Roerig from January 18, 2005 to May 2, 2007. From January 29, 2008 to the series' last episode on September 17, 2010, newcomer Billy Magnussen played the role.
John Dixon M.D. is a fictional character on the American TV soap opera, As the World Turns. He was portrayed by Larry Bryggman from July 18, 1969 until December 14, 2004. Dixon is a cardiologist at Oakdale Memorial Hospital where he is also Chief and Acting Chief of Staff at Memorial Hospital. Though the character stopped appearing in 2004, when Bryggman left the show, no mention was made of his having left town. However, after Larry Bryggman returned to the show on August 27, 2010, Bob Hughes mentioned that Dixon had been at Johns Hopkins. The character remained on the show for its final month, appearing in the last episode in September 2010.
Robert Hughes M.D. is a fictional character on the American soap opera As the World Turns. Bob was played by actor Don Hastings from October 1960 until the series' final episode on September 17, 2010. Actors Bobby Alford and Ronnie Welch played Bob previously between 1956 and 1960.
Alison Stewart is a fictional character from As the World Turns, an American soap opera on the CBS network. Created by head writers Juliet Law Packer and Richard Backus, and introduced by executive producer Laurence Caso, the character was portrayed by several child actors, including Sarah Hyland. In 2002, the role was rapidly aged when Jessica Dunphy was cast in the role; she remained in the role until her exit in 2005. In 2007, the character briefly crossed over to The Young and the Restless with actress Marnie Schulenburg in the role, who would continue her portrayal on As the World Turns until the series finale in 2010.
Emily Stewart is a fictional character from As the World Turns, an American soap opera on the CBS network. She has been portrayed by Kelley Menighan Hensley since July 1992. Ten years later, the actress received her first Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. The character briefly appeared on the CBS soap, The Young and the Restless in March 2007, asking Amber Moore about information on her sister and biological daughter, Alison Stewart.
Stavares "Steve" Andropoulos and Elizabeth "Betsy" Stewart Andropoulos are fictional characters and a super couple from the American soap opera As the World Turns, which aired for almost 54 years before being canceled due to low ratings. Steve was portrayed by actor Frank Runyeon and Betsy was portrayed by both actress Meg Ryan and actress Lindsay Frost. The fictional couple wed on May 30, 1984; the episode attracted 20 million viewers making it the second highest-rated hour in American soap opera history.
Kim Sullivan Hughes is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns. The character was portrayed by Kathryn Hays continuously from 1972. Kim was created by soap opera legend Irna Phillips and was based on Irna's own personality. She soon became one of As the World Turns's most popular characters. First appearing in August 1972, the actress become the fourth longest serving cast member on the show after Helen Wagner, Don Hastings, and Eileen Fulton when the show finished on air on September 17, 2010.
Frances Jennifer "Frannie" Hughes is a fictional character on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns played by several actresses from 1973 to 1992. Frannie was most notably portrayed by future Academy Award winner Julianne Moore, from April 2, 1985, to May 1988 and April 5, 2010.
Margo Hughes is a fictional character on the daytime soap opera As the World Turns, a show about working life in the fictional town of Oakdale. She was first played by Margaret Colin, and then by Hillary B. Smith for six years. However the actress most recognized for the role is Ellen Dolan, who played the character from December 18, 1989 until 2010, with a break from January 1993 to June 1994.
Penny Hughes is a fictional character from the daytime drama As the World Turns. She is one of the core cast members. Prinz herself described the character as "America’s sweetheart at the time".
As the World Turns is a long-running soap opera television series that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Its fictional world has a long and involved history.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
