Lisa Grimaldi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As the World Turns character

Lisa Grimaldi
Played by Eileen Fulton
Duration 1960-1964, 1966-1983, 1984-present
Date of Birth October 18, 1935
Marital Status Widowed
Occupation Proprietor
Family Tom, Margo, Casey, Scott, Lien, Daniel

Lisa Grimaldi (née Lisa Miller) is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns. The daughter of Henry and Alma Miller, Lisa grew up in Rockford, Illinois before moving to Oakdale.

The character first appeared in May 1960, as the fiancée of medical student Bob Hughes. (The two would soon elope, when they discovered that Lisa was pregnant). Over the next four decades, Lisa would go on to marry seven more times. A scheming "vixen" in her early years, 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.

An entrepreneur, she currently owns a restaurant, a clothing boutique and co-owns a hotel; she formerly owned one of the town's newspapers, The Argus, and a nightclub. She recently started work on Crash, a new teen-oriented music club, with the help of her grandson Casey.

The character briefly crossed over into her own prime time spinoff series, Our Private World, for a few months in 1965, during which Lisa left Oakdale and moved to Chicago. She returned to Oakdale in 1966, where she has remained ever since.

She has two sons—a third son was killed in an automobile accident in the early 1970s—and four grandchildren.

Since 1960, she has been portrayed primarily by Eileen Fulton, with a few other actresses, most notably Pamela King and Betsy Von Furstenberg, filling in during brief absences. Australian actress Carmen Duncan, best known to US audiences for her role as Iris on Another World, filled in for Fulton for three episodes in late 2004 while she was on emergency medical leave.

Her character's full legal name is Lisa Miller Hughes Eldridge Shea Colman McColl Mitchell Grimaldi Chedwyn (however, her marriage to Chedwyn may have been illegal, and she currently goes by Lisa Grimaldi).

Contents

[edit] Family, Marriages, Romantic Entanglements & Children

Eileen Fulton as Lisa in a 1985 episode still.
Enlarge
Eileen Fulton as Lisa in a 1985 episode still.

[edit] Family

  • Alma Miller (mother; deceased)
  • Henry Miller (father; deceased)
  • Shannon O'Hara (niece by marriage to Earl Mitchell)
  • Damian Grimaldi (cousin by marriage to Eduardo Grimaldi)
  • Margo Montgomery Hughes (daughter-in-law)
  • Bonnie McKechnie (goddaughter)

[edit] Marriages

Marital status: Single

  • Dr. Bob Hughes (divorced; 1960-1963) [best friends with Bob]
  • John Eldridge (divorced; 1965)
  • Dr. Michael Shea (his death;1968-1970)
  • Grant Colman (divorced; 1974-1979)
  • Whit McColl (his death; 1982-1984)
  • Earl Mitchell (his death; 1986-1988)
  • Eduardo Grimaldi (his death; 1994-1995) [married only weeks]
  • Martin Chedwyn (annulled; 1997)

Full legal name: Lisa Miller Hughes Grimaldi

Lisa's shot in the 1999 opening sequence
Enlarge
Lisa's shot in the 1999 opening sequence

[edit] Significant Relationships

  • Bruce Elliott (affair, 1963)
  • Thomas Eldridge (affair, 1965; John Eldridge's brother, Lisa had an affair with him while married to John.)
  • Don Hughes (engaged, early 1970s)
  • Dr. John Dixon (engaged, 1996)
  • Ralph Mitchell (lovers, 1998)
  • Warren Jefferies (dated platonically, 2000)

[edit] Children

  • Tom Hughes (son; with ex-husband Robert Hughes, born 1961)
  • Scott Eldridge (son; with ex-husband John Eldridge, born 1965; he was born off-camera, during the few months between when Our Private World ended, and when Lisa returned to Oakdale. Viewers were never made aware of his existence until he tracked Lisa down as an adult in 1992.)
  • Charles "Chuckie" Shea (son; with ex-husband Michael Shea, born 1968, died 1973)

[edit] Grandchildren

  • Lien Hughes (daughter of Tom Hughes and unidentified Vietnamise woman, born early 1970s)
  • Adam Munson (adopted son of Tom Hughes; biological son of Margo Montgomery Hughes and Hal Monson. Not related biologically, but regards Lisa as his grandmother, born onscreen 1988, character is now depicted as being older)
  • Casey Hughes (son of Tom Hughes and Margo Montgomery Hughes, born 1991.)
  • Daniel Hughes (son of Tom Hughes and Emily Stewart, born 1998.)

[edit] Great Grandchildren

  • Billy Norbeck (son of Casey Hughes and Gwen Norbeck, born 2005, died in infancy)

[edit] Businesses

[edit] Current Businesses

  • Owner of Crash, a teen-oriented nightclub
  • Owner of Fashions, Ltd. (formerly co-owned with Barbara Ryan, now the sole owner)
  • Owner of the Mona Lisa restaurant
  • Co-owner of the Lakeview Hotel (with Lily Walsh Snyder)

[edit] Former Businesses

  • Former owner of The Argus newspaper (operated it with her son Tom; sold the newspaper in 2001, after Tom announced that he wanted to quit the newspaper business and return to practicing law.)
  • Former co-owner of the Java Underground Nightclub (with Isaac Jenkins and Bonnie McKecnie; Lisa sold her share in the business when Isaac and Bonnie sold their shares and left Oakdale in 2003.)
  • Former partner in Get Real Fashions (with Carly Tenney; partnership dissolved after 1997 Hong Kong fiasco; they attempted to start another partnership in 2003, but it did not work out.)

[edit] Misdeeds/Crimes Committed

  • faked "difficulties" with her pregnancy in order to get out of helping her mother-in-law Nancy Hughes with housework. (1960)
  • viciously called Penny Hughes names and accused her of having designs on Wally Matthews (1961)
  • attempted to turn her son Tom against his father. (1964)
  • accepted hefty divorce settlement in exchange for agreeing to have no involvement in the life of her son Scott (1965)
  • briefly suspected of murdering husband Dr. Michael Shea (1970)
  • faked a suicide attempt in an attempt to hold on to fourth husband Grant Colman and keep him away from Joyce. (1977)
  • blackmailed Margo Montgomery about her affair with James Stenbeck, attempting to expose it (1981)
  • bribed staff members at hospital where Iva Snyder gave birth to Lily and Rose so she could obtain proof that Lucinda's adoption of Lily was illegal. (1987)
  • attempted to turn public opinion against Duncan and Jessica McKechnie after she made it known that she believed it was morally wrong for a white man and a black woman to have a baby. (1993, her opinion on this issue was later changed, and she subsequently became godmother to their daughter, Bonnie.)
  • falsely accused John Dixon of wrongdoing in Eduardo Grimaldi's death (1995)

[edit] Medical Crises

  • (1965) Raped/Beaten/had a breakdown
  • (1966) Swallowed pills/almost died
  • (1971) Ovarian cyst
  • (1974) Nearly died after a bout with pneumonia
  • (1989) Sleeping pill addiction/injured in car crash
  • (1996) Poisoned by Martin/injured her arm offscreen

[edit] Rivals/adversaries

  • Joyce Colman. Grant's scheming ex-wife, who repeatedly tried to sabotage Grant and Lisa's marriage.
  • Lucinda Walsh. Lisa and Lucinda have feuded bitterly over a number of personal and business issues through the years, though more recently they appear to have become a bit more friendly toward one another, likely due to Lisa's fondness for Lucinda's daughter Lily (with whom Lisa co-owns the Lakeview).
  • Carly Tenney. Though initially friends, Carly and Lisa had a falling out over their failed business venture, Get Real Fashions, and their relationship remained adversarial for many years; they appear to have put their animosity behind them during the last year, after Lisa came to Carly's aid when she found herself unable to pay for a bottle of champagne she purchased at the Lakeview.
  • John Dixon. Lisa accused John of medical malpractice in the death of her husband Eduardo Grimaldi. John responded by atempting to romance Lisa, asking her to marry, only to dump her at their engagement party, slandering and insulting her publically. The two have since reconciled.
  • Emily Stewart. In addition to having been a rival newspaper owner, Lisa hated Emily for her attempts to break up Tom and Margo's marriage. In an attempt to strong-arm Tom for custody of their son Daniel, Emily ran an sleazy "expose" on Lisa in her tabloid "The Intruder", which put the women even more at odds than they had been.

[edit] See also