Agnes Nixon, 93, created TV soap ‘All My Children’
LOS ANGELES — Agnes Nixon, the creative force behind the edgy and enduring TV soap operas “One Life to Live” and “All My Children,” has died. She was 93.
Ms. Nixon died Wednesday at a Haverford, Pa., physical rehabilitation facility close to her Rosemont home, said her son, Bob Nixon. She had checked in to gain strength for a planned book tour, he said.
She had just completed her memoir, “My Life to Live,” last Sunday, a week before it was due to publisher Penguin Random House for publication in early 2017, her son said.
“She was really a great wife, mother and human being — but above all, a writer. She was writing up until last night,” he said, and had called him with a few changes for the book.
The cause of death was not immediately known, he said.
Ms. Nixon suffered a stroke four years ago with serious complications, her son said, but she fought to regain her health. He confirmed her birthdate as December 1922, despite media reports that she was 88.
“I am devastated to learn that we have lost Agnes. I adored her and admired her and I am forever grateful to her!” Susan Lucci, who starred as Erica Kane on “All My Children,” said in a statement.
Ms. Nixon created, wrote and produced the long-running ABC daytime serials, which were canceled in 2011 as the network bowed to the reality that soaps had faded as a daytime TV force. (Both subsequently had shortlived online runs.)
“All My Children” aired for nearly 41 years, while “One Life to Live” made it to 44 years. They were set in the fictional Philadelphiaarea towns of Pine Valley and Llanview.
Social issues including child abuse, AIDS, alcoholism and gay rights made their way into the series’ story lines. Erica Kane was the first regularly appearing TV character to undergo a legal abortion, in 1973.
In a 2003 episode of “All My Children,” Bianca, who was Erica’s daughter, and the character Lena shared what was billed as daytime TV’s first same-sex kiss.
“The theme of ‘ All My Children’ from the beginning is the belief that, as God’s children, we are all bound to each other by our common humanity, despite our many personal differences,” Ms. Nixon told The Associated Press at the time. “The Bianca story is our latest effort to dramatize that belief.”