Eileen Fulton’s Final Curtain: Remembering the ‘As the World Turns’ Icon at 91
The facts matter. Here’s what we know so far.
By Zoe Bennett
Veteran actress Eileen Fulton passed away on July 14 in Asheville, North Carolina, at the age of 91, according to her obituary released by the local funeral home. Fulton was best known for portraying the scheming Lisa Miller on CBS’s As the World Turns, a role she inhabited from 1960 until the series concluded in 2010. Her nearly fifty-year tenure on daytime television made her one of the longest serving actors in soap opera history.
Born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty on September 13, 1933, in Asheville, Fulton graduated from Greensboro College in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in music. She honed her craft under the guidance of legendary acting coaches Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg, refining a style that balanced classical technique with emotional authenticity. Soon after, she secured the Lisa Miller role, transforming the character into one of the genre’s most enduring antagonists.
Not everyone embraced Lisa’s manipulative ways, but Fulton always separated the woman from the villain. In a 2010 interview with NPR, she noted that Lisa relied on wealthy suitors to achieve her aims—a far cry from Fulton’s own self-made philosophy. “I set my own goals and go after them,” she told NPR, highlighting a key difference between actress and alter ego.
Fulton’s contributions to daytime drama earned her a 1998 induction into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame and a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. By any measure, her career stands as a testament to the power of daytime television during its peak era, when loyal audiences tuned in five days a week to follow unfolding storylines and cliffhangers.
Beyond the small screen, Fulton pursued her Broadway ambitions with the lead in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and appeared in the off Broadway musical The Fantasticks. She also developed a successful cabaret act that played New York and Los Angeles venues for years. In print, Fulton authored two memoirs: How My World Turns in 1970 and As My World Still Turns in 1995, chronicling both her career highs and personal reflections.
After retiring in 2019, Fulton settled in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where she spent her final years. She is survived by her brother, Charles Furman McLarty, her niece, Katherine Morris, and her sister-in-law, Chris Page McLarty. Her passing closes a remarkable chapter in television history and the story of a performer who embraced every opportunity to entertain.
Eileen Fulton’s legacy goes beyond the role of a soap star. She helped define a golden age of daytime drama and inspired countless actors who followed. That’s the final act for now.
Sources: Celebrity Storm and E! Online, NPR, The Washington Post, Soap Opera Hall of Fame, Daytime Emmy Awards
Attribution: Creative Commons Licensed
