Eileen Fulton
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Eileen Fulton (born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty on September 13, 1933) is an American actress, born a preacher's daughter in Asheville, North Carolina.
Among other roles (including the Broadway productions of The Fantasticks and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), she is most famous for her role as Lisa Grimaldi on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, a role she has played almost continually (with two notable interruptions) since May 16, 1960.
The character of Lisa has a storied history, having been married eight times, divorced three times and widowed four times (with her most recent marriage annulled) making her full name Lisa Miller Hughes Eldridge Shea Colman McColl Mitchell Grimaldi Chedwyn.
Fulton's portrayal of Lisa created the strongest prototype of its time for the daytime vixen/bitch; the character and actress were, in Fulton's first decades on ATWT, very popular (to the point where, in the late 1960s, Fulton had to hire a publicist, the first soap actress to do so). Despite her popularity, Fulton's run has not been without controversy. During the early 1970s, Fulton was noted for insisting it be written into her contract that her character could not become a grandmother. (She feared it would impede the glamorous, fast-paced storylines in which she was involved at the time.) As a result, the actress received enormous amounts of "hate mail" when Lisa's onscreen daughter-in-law, Margo, had a miscarriage in 1986. (It is unclear whether the "granny clause", as it became known, was still in effect at the time.) Now in her seventies, Fulton no longer has the "granny clause" in her contract; her character has two sons -- a third son died a number of years ago -- and four grandchildren. [citation needed]
She left the show three times - first in 1963 when she was replaced in the role of Lisa by actress Pamela Miller; in 1965 to bring her Lisa character to her own primetime soap spinoff, "Our Private World" (CBS's attempt to mimic the success of ABC's "Peyton Place"). Our Private World lasted less than a season, and Fulton took several months off before returning to ATWT in early 1966. She left again in 1983 after a contract dispute with executive producer Mary-Ellis Bunim, returning the next year. During Fulton's 1983-84 absence, the role of Lisa was played by Betsy von Furstenberg. (Carmen Duncan also filled in for a few days in late 2004, when Fulton was out due to illness.)
Although the character of Lisa is still appearing on the show, Fulton has been vocal about her displeasure at not being more prominently featured. Fulton was prominently featured in April 2006 during the show's 50th anniversary episode.
She has written two memoirs, How My World Turns and As My World Still Turns. She also wrote a mystery novel, called Soap Opera, loosely based on her experiences on ATWT. She is also a singer, and has performed a number of cabaret and nightclub acts, in addition to her acting.
Fulton is a 1955 graduate of Greensboro College and was granted an honorary doctorate in 2005, on the fiftieth anniversary of her college graduation. She was the commencement speaker at Greensboro's graduation ceremony in 2005.
