My Life to Live: How I Became the Queen of Soaps When Men Ruled the Airwaves

263 Pages·2017·7.66 MB·English

by  Agnes Nixon

Copyright © 2017 by Agnes Nixon All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crown Archetype, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division
of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
crownpublishing.com
Crown Archetype and colophon is a registered trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Nixon, Agnes, 1922–2016 author.
Title: My life to live / Agnes Nixon.
Description: First edition. | New York : Crown Archetype, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016044129 | ISBN 9780451498236 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Nixon, Agnes, 1922–
2016. | Women television writers—United States—Biography. | Women television producers and directors
—United States—Biography.
Classification: LCC PN1992.4.N55 A3 2017 | DDC 812/.54 [B]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016044129
ISBN 9780451498236
Ebook ISBN 9780451498250
Cover design by Elena Giavaldi
Cover photographs: (left) Ed Eckstein; (center and right) American Broadcast Companies, Inc.
v4.1
ep
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Foreword By Carol Burnett
Prologue
Chapter 1: Paper Dolls
Chapter 2: The Problem with Perfection
Chapter 3: Guiding Lights
Chapter 4: The Mills of God
Chapter 5: The Promise of a Kiss
Chapter 6: The Eighth Child
Chapter 7: Lieutenant Priester
Chapter 8: Freedom of Opportunity
Chapter 9: New Frontiers
Chapter 10: Search for Tomorrow
Chapter 11: Best Man
Chapter 12: Settling Down
Chapter 13: The Ties That Bind
Photo Insert
Chapter 14: Pine Valley Dreams
Chapter 15: One Life to Live
Chapter 16: Make ’Em Laugh, Make ’Em Cry, Make ’Em Wait
Chapter 17: The Power of the Pencil
Chapter 18: The Ratings Speak
Chapter 19: Actors and Me
Chapter 20: Time and Tide
Afterword by Bob and Emily Nixon
“No Flags Flying,” an Original Radio Play
by Agnes Nixon
Acknowledgments
About the Author
To All My Children: Cathy, Mary, Bob, and Emily And to Paul and Sarah To All
My Grandchildren: Ceara, Kelly, Erin, Amy, Oliver, Rory, Galen, Bobby,
Maggie, and Jack And to Matt and Jeff To All My Great-Grandchildren: Faye,
Riley, and Emma To All My Great-Grandchildren yet to be To my husband, Bob,
without whose support All My Children would never have been created
The great and the least
The weak and the strong
The rich and the poor
In sickness and health
In joy and sorrow
In tragedy and triumph
You are All My Children
Theme from my All My Children bible, 1965
I became an All My Children fan when Erica Kane was on her first marriage. In
the early seventies when I was doing my variety show, I scheduled my lunch
break around the time it would air (because there were no VCRs at the time).
Unfortunately, when Friday rolled around, there was no way to watch what was
going on in Pine Valley because that was our show day…so what did I do?
During the question-and-answer segment at the beginning of our taping, I simply
asked if anyone in the audience had seen the episode that day and if they could
bring me up-to-date. It made for some interesting and often hilarious
explanations. I was absolutely thrilled later when Agnes Nixon got in touch to
offer me a role! And it was a doozy. I was to be “Verla Grubbs,” the illegitimate
daughter of a carnival con man and snake charmer, who comes to Pine Valley in
search of her biological father. Verla looked and dressed exactly like her name
(I’ll leave that description to the reader’s imagination). I returned as the
character a few more times, and loved every minute of it.
I was thrilled once more when Agnes sent me her book, asking me to write
the foreword. I read it in one fell swoop. The book includes detailed descriptions
of the daytime dramas she created, the casting processes, and so much more,
which are fascinating to those of us who were hooked on her fabulous
storytelling abilities. Moreover, Agnes’s own story is as compelling as those in
her dramas. She tells us about her parents’ on-again, off-again love/hate
relationship, and the effect it had on her as a young child who yearned for a