Helen Wagner Keeps Nancy Hughes's World Turning for 50 Years

Helen Wagner Keeps Nancy Hughes's World Turning for 50 Years

Guinness World Record Holder Celebrates 50 Years on As The World Turns

NEW YORK, March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Daytime legend Helen Wagner celebrates an unprecedented 50 years as matriarch Nancy Hughes on the CBS daytime drama As The World Turns on April 2, 2006. She is the show's sole original cast member and she has been inscribed in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Longest Time in the Same Television Role."

Wagner spoke the first words -- "Good morning, dear, what would you like for breakfast?" -- on the program that went on to rule the Nielsen ratings for a record 20 years (1958-1978), and most recently received a 2006 Daytime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Daytime Drama, which it previously won in 2001 and 2003.

Since those first words, Nancy's life in the fictional town of Oakdale has been full of drama -- and Wagner has told each story with loving care. Viewers shared in Nancy's crushing grief over the loss of her daughter, the death of her husband, as well as Nancy's subsequent remarriage and the slow fading away of her second spouse due to Alzheimer's disease. Currently, Nancy is embroiled in a mystery surrounding the publication of a scandalous novel, Oakdale Confidential by Anonymous (Pocket Books 4/06), which makes public several characters' checkered pasts. Nancy knows more about the shadowy author than she's letting on.

In addition, the April 3 anniversary episode of As The World Turns will spotlight Nancy as other long-running characters honor her 50 years of community service.

"It feels like being with old friends for all of my life," says Wagner about her unprecedented milestone.

"Helen Wagner is not only the heart and soul of our show," explained As The World Turns Executive Producer Christopher Goutman. "She is also Oakdale's conscience. Even the worst of our villains know that they can't pull the wool over Mrs. Hughes's eyes!"

Prior to joining the inaugural cast of As The World Turns, Ms. Wagner appeared on Broadway in Sunny River, Oklahoma!, The Bad Seed, My Name Is Acquilon, and Love of Four Colonels. She toured as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire with Lee Marvin, and appeared in regional theater in Illinois as Eleanor in The Lion in Winter.

For her work on As The World Turns, Wagner received the prestigious Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in 2001. In 2002, she was inducted into the "Buddy Holly Walk of Fame" in Lubbock, Texas (her birthplace), and in 2004, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored Wagner with the Lifetime Achievement Award.

As The World Turns, along with Wagner, will celebrate its 50th anniversary on April 2, 2006. Christopher Goutman is Executive Producer and Jean Passanante is Headwriter. A Procter & Gamble Production, As The World Turns is taped in Brooklyn, NY. The show can be seen weekdays on the CBS Television Network. (Check local listings). For photos please visit http://www.pgpphoto.com/.

Source: Procter & Gamble Productions

CONTACT: Lisa Lugassy for Procter & Gamble Productions,
+1-212-474-5801, lisa.lugassy@televest.com

Web site: http://www.pgpphoto.com/

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