30. OLTL, All My Children, and Loving

Agnes Nixon
Creator and writer of some of the most popular soap operas in the last 60 years, died on Wednesday, September 28, 2016 in Rosemont, PA. She had been struggling with complications of Parkinson’s disease and a recent stroke. She was 93.

Nixon was highly regarded as a pioneer for women in television. She transformed the traditional soap opera by introducing real-life issues into her shows. She modeled the fictional town of Pine Valley, the setting for “All My Children” on Rosemont, PA the suburban area where she lived and that was her home base for the rest of her life.

Nixon was co-creator of CBS’ long-running “As the World Turns.” Early in her career, Nixon was a writer on CBS’ “The Guiding Light” and NBC’s “Another World.”

Nixon found her true calling in the late 1960s and early 1970s when she and her husband, Robert Nixon, created “One Life to Live” and “All My Children” for ABC. In the 1980s she wrote ABC’s “Loving.” In contrast to the existing soaps, the series were notable for featuring socially relevant issues with racial and ethnic diversity among its characters.

It was no secret that “All My Children” was her favorite story and Erica Kane her favorite character. She based arch villain Adam Chandler, who didn't “know how to love,” on her father and gave the manipulative Erica Kane, abandonment issues, from which she herself suffered as a child, due to her parent’s divorce shortly after her birth.

“All My Children” and “One Life to Live” were canceled by ABC in 2011 after 40-plus years on the air. That was a sad day for all of her fans. I had personally been watching OLTL for over 30 years.

During her career, Nixon earned five Daytime Emmy Awards and five Writers Guild Awards. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 2010. She received a lifetime achievement honor from the Daytime Emmy Awards also in 2010.

Nixon just finished writing a memoir, "My Life to Live," which is scheduled to be released in January, 2017.

Agnes Nixon’s survivors include three daughters, a son, 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her husband, Robert Nixon died in 1996.

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