Monday, May 3, 2010

CLASSIC PHOTO: Legendary Helen Wagner


We Love Soaps has received an outpouring of emails and comments today about the passing of Helen Wagner. I hope some of the articles and videos and classic photos have done a small part to help honor this legendary actress.

I was assigned to be Ms. Wagner's escort at the New York Mayor's Pre-Emmy event in 2004 when she, and nine other legends, were to receive the Lifetime Achievement Awards the following night. I honestly could not keep up with her. I was 33 and she was 85! I was in such awe of an actor playing a role for so long. My mother watched Nancy Hughes with her mother for 14 years before I was even born. President Eisenhower was still in his first tern when Ms. Wagner shot the AS THE WORLD TURNS pilot in November 1955. Incredible!

It's been six years since that Pre-Emmy event and Nancy Hughes was still going strong last month at Bob and Kim's anniversary party. Thank you Helen Wagner for making housewives cool decades before there was a TV show about it. Simply an amazing, one-of-a-kind talent, world-record-setting legend! We will never forget you.

7 comments:

  1. Thanks for another super-beautiful photo of Helen/Nancy, Roger. She always knew how to take a wonderful photo. Bless Her Heart! :)

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  2. That was a great photo of Helen, I love that time period. Did anyone see any thing on TV? Saw CBS morning show and the evening news. Didn't see any thing on the Entertainment news shows like ET, HLN had a half second saying, it was pathetic. Did see something on Fox and Friends had a nice tribute says she was in the geniuses book of world records and showed some clips, one of them said my mom loves the show and is devastated that it is going off the air, and now Helen.

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  3. Craig, I saw a story locally here on NY1.

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  4. Nelson Aspen also managed to mention Helen on his morning show appearance in Australia.
    http://au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/play/-/7159980/lynn-redgrave-dies-at-67/

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  5. It was on the Dutch national news as well (both RTL News and NOS News). Also newspapers have written about it.

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  6. This is what CBS Early show said.
    http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6455875n&tag=mncol;lst;7

    http://www.cbs.com/daytime/as_the_world_turns/video/?pid=nYnxQGOtpnNUDr2bXtgWZs_BbV2cDIDE&vs=Clips&play=true

    Maybe this will be away to all great actors back like Penny, Ellen and John Dixon. Do you if she taped anymore episodes? I was hoping the ones that started the show should end it. And everyone wanted Nancy to say good night dear.

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  7. Craig, I need to confirm but I think she did tape again. Don't take that to the bank though until I find out for sure. She was supposed to tape again this week.

    But if her last scene was the Bob and Kim anniversary, that was a nice one and it felt like a finale.

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