Agnes Nixon

Agnes Nixon

Nixon at the 2010 Daytime Emmy Awards
Born Agnes Eckhardt
(1922-12-10)December 10, 1922
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died September 28, 2016(2016-09-28) (aged 93)
Haverford, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Cause of death Parkinson's disease
Occupation Actress, writer, producer
Years active 1948–2012
Spouse(s) Robert Henry Adolphus Nixon (m. 1951; d. 1996)
Children 4 (including Robert Nixon)
Website Official website

Agnes Nixon (née Eckhardt; December 10, 1922 – September 28, 2016) was an American television writer and producer. She is best known as the creator of the long-running soap operas One Life to Live, All My Children, and Loving.[1]

Nixon's work as producer and writer introduced a number of new storylines to American daytime television – the first health-related storyline, the first storyline related to the Vietnam War, the first on-screen lesbian kiss and the first on-screen abortion.[2][3][4] She won five Writers' Guild of America Awards, five Daytime Emmy Awards, and in 2010 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.[1] Nixon was often referred to as the "Queen" of the modern American soap opera.[5][6]

Career

Early years

Nixon was born Agnes Eckhardt on December 10, 1922,[7][8] in Chicago, USA,[9] the daughter of Agnes Patricia (née Dalton) and Harry Joseph Eckhardt.[10] She attended Northwestern University, where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She began her career in soaps working for Irna Phillips. Under her tutelage, Nixon was a writer on Woman in White and As the World Turns, and was head writer for Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, and Another World.[5]

During her time on Guiding Light, Nixon is believed to have written the first health-related storyline on a daytime soap opera.[2] A friend of Nixon's had died from cervical cancer, and Nixon wanted to do something to educate women about getting a pap smear. She wrote it into Guiding Light by having the lead character, Bert Bauer, experience a cancer scare. The storyline aired in 1962 and in 2002, she was the inaugural recipient of the Pioneer for Health Award from Sentinel for Health for her work on the episode.[2]

One Life to Live

By the mid-1960s, Nixon had created a blueprint for what would become All My Children. ABC executives passed on the program, due to contractual issues with sponsor Lever Brothers, who sponsored a program that All My Children would replace in its time slot. Consequently, they asked her to create a show that would reflect a more "contemporary" tone; that creation was One Life to Live. Nixon, "tired of the restraints imposed by the WASPy, non-controversial nature of daytime drama", presented the network with a startlingly original premise and cast of characters. Although the show was built along the classic soap formula of a rich family (the Lords) and a poor family (the Woleks), One Life to Live emphasized the ethnic and socioeconomic diversity of the people of Llanview, Pennsylvania, a fictional Main Line suburb of Philadelphia."[11]

Premiering in 1968, One Life to Live reflected changing social structures and attitudes. The first few years of the show were rich in issue stories and characters including a Jewish character (Dave Siegel), an Irish American family (the Rileys), and some of the first African American leading roles in soap operas with Sadie Gray (Lillian Hayman), Carla Gray (Ellen Holly) and Ed Hall (Al Freeman Jr.). Carla's story, for example, had her develop from a character who was passing as white to one who embodied black pride, with white and black lovers along the way, to antagonize racists.[3] One Life to Live has been called "the most peculiarly American of soap operas: the first serial to present a vast array of ethnic types, broad comic situations, a constant emphasis on social issues, and strong male characters."[12]

All My Children

With the success of One Life to Live, Nixon was given the greenlight for All My Children, which began as a half-hour soap opera in 1970. The show was successful from its beginning, combining its study of social clashes with acting talent including Ruth Warrick (Phoebe Tyler) and Rosemary Prinz (Amy Tyler). Nixon helmed the writing team for over a decade, until 1983,[13] and again introduced many social issues into storylines, including the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement, homosexuality, the AIDS epidemic, and American television's first onscreen abortion.[4][14][15]

All My Children was a half-hour show for the first seven years of its run, and virtually no recordings of those episodes survive; ABC erased the tapes of those early episodes so the reels could be reused. When ABC went to Nixon and said that they wanted her to expand the show to an hour in 1975, she resisted due to her own creative/quality concerns but later agreed under the condition that the tapes of the show would be archived and preserved by the network. Episodes began to be saved in 1976, and All My Children expanded to an hour on April 25, 1977.[16]

In 1992, ABC executives decided that All My Children needed new blood and promoted a Nixon protégé, Megan McTavish, to the position of head writer. Nixon continued to be involved with the show, but wanted to take a step back from the grueling day-to-day task of being a head writer. McTavish made some important changes by re-writing major storylines and was dismissed in early 1995. Lorraine Broderick returned as head writer, working alongside Nixon to return the show to its socially relevant, character-driven roots. Broderick and Nixon went on to accept three consecutive Daytime Emmy awards for Outstanding Writing Team. Still, in late 1997, ABC abruptly decided to bring back McTavish. This move led to Nixon's electing to step back from her story consulting role.[16]

In early 1999, McTavish was dismissed for the second time and Nixon was again asked to take over the headwriting reins at All My Children. Nixon was aware that this would probably be her last major stint as head writer in daytime television and wanted to leave a final legacy. As it had always been Nixon's intention for her soaps to deal with important social issues, Nixon decided to forever change the landscape of the show by having a major character "come out". In 2000, Erica's daughter, Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel), returned to Pine Valley with a secret, and for months the audience witnessed the character trying to keep her sexuality a secret from everyone around her. The character was eventually revealed to be a lesbian. Although this was at first met with criticism, it renewed interest in the show and Eden Riegel gained a large fanbase.[17] This storyline led to All My Children's winning a casting Artios award, a GLAAD Media Award,[18] and a nomination for a Daytime Emmy for Best Drama Series.

Loving/The City

In 1983, Nixon began another series called Loving,[19] which she co-created with Douglas Marland.[1] The half-hour program debuted on ABC in June of that year and was set in the fictional town of Corinth, Pennsylvania. Loving struggled to gain a foothold in a crowded daytime schedule and ended its run in 1995. Nixon was given co-creator credit for Loving's continuation series, The City.[19] The show was cancelled in 1997 due to low ratings.

On-screen appearances

Nixon appeared in her shows on a number of occasions. In both All My Children and One Life to Live she played the character Agnes Eckhardt. She also played the characters Aggie on All My Children and Agnes Dixon on One Life to Live.[1]

Personal life and death

She was married to Robert Henry Adolphus Nixon from April 6, 1951, until his death in 1996, and had four children. Nixon died in Haverford, Pennsylvania, on September 28, 2016, at age 93.[1][8] The New York Times reported the cause of death to be "pneumonia resulting from Parkinson's disease".[20]

Nixon's memoirs are scheduled to be published in 2017.[21]

Awards and recognition

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Library, C. N. N. "Agnes Nixon Fast Facts - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  2. 1 2 3 "Third Annual Sentinel for Health Award for Daytime Drama (2002) | Hollywood Health & Society". hollywoodhealthandsociety.org. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  3. 1 2 "Agnes Nixon, 'All My Children' Creator, Dies at 88". September 28, 2016. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  4. 1 2 Lenhart, Jennifer. "The Last Taboo". Soap Opera Digest. Archived from the original on December 26, 2007. Retrieved July 4, 2007.
  5. 1 2 "NIXON, AGNES: U.S. Writer-Producer". museum.tv. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved August 16, 2007.
  6. ↑ "Agnes Nixon, Creator of 'All My Children, Dies at 88". Retrieved 2016-09-28.
  7. ↑ "Agnes Nixon Papers, 1941–2013".
  8. 1 2 Agnes Nixon Obituary
  9. ↑ Archive of American Television/Official page – Agnes Nixon – Archive Interview, Part 1 of 5 on YouTube
  10. ↑ Profile, filmreference.com; accessed August 27, 2015.
  11. ↑ Schemering, Christopher (September 1985). The Soap Opera Encyclopedia. pp. 158–159. ISBN 0-345-32459-5.
  12. ↑ The Soap Opera Encyclopedia, pg. 158.
  13. ↑ Official website
  14. ↑ Gary Warner, All My Children: The Complete Family Scrapbook; ISBN 1-881649-45-8.
  15. ↑ Simon, p. 148.
  16. 1 2 Nixon profile, museum.tv; accessed August 27, 2015.
  17. ↑ Kregloe, Karman (March 23, 2006). "Soaps Come Clean About Gay Teens (page 3)". AfterElton.com. Archived from the original on June 11, 2007. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
  18. ↑ "AMC's Bianca Storyline Applauded". SoapCentral. Archived from the original on November 5, 2007. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
  19. 1 2 Roots, Kimberly; Roots, Kimberly (September 28, 2016). "Agnes Nixon, Creator of All My Children and One Life to Live, Dead at 88". TVLine. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  20. ↑ McFadden, Robert D. (September 28, 2016). "Agnes Nixon, Who Infused Her Soap Operas with Social Relevance, Dies at 93". NYTimes.com. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  21. ↑ "One Life To Live and All My Children creator Agnes Nixon dies aged 93". Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  22. ↑ Primetime Emmy nomination, emmys.com; accessed August 27, 2015.
  23. ↑ Agnes Nixon interview video at the Archive of American Television
  24. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Agnes Nixon". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-10-01.
  25. ↑ "The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences". emmyonline.com. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  26. ↑ "Television Academy Hall of Fame | Archive of American Television". emmytvlegends.org. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  27. ↑ Library, C. N. N. "Agnes Nixon Fast Facts - CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  28. ↑ "'All My Children' creator Agnes Nixon dies at 93". Retrieved 2016-09-29.
  29. ↑ Roger Newcomb. NOMINATIONS: 37th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards, welovesoaps.net, May 12, 2010; retrieved 2010-05-12.
Preceded by
Regis Philbin		 Recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy Awards
2010 		Succeeded by
Alex Trebek
Pat Sajak
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