Eileen Fulton, whose half‑century turn as Lisa Grimaldi on As the World Turns helped define modern soap opera, died July 14 in Asheville, North Carolina, at age 91 after a period of declining health.
The news came through a family obituary posted by Groce Funeral Home, which noted her passing in her hometown and confirmed her birth name, Margaret Elizabeth McLarty.
Raised by a Methodist minister and a public‑school teacher, Fulton studied drama and music at Greensboro College, then relocated to New York in 1956 to train under Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg while working modeling gigs to cover rent.
In 1960 she joined the CBS daytime serial during its fourth season and transformed Lisa from a temporary ingénue into daytime television’s first widely recognized “bad girl,” remaining with the program until its 2010 finale and becoming one of the medium’s longest‑serving performers.
Audience popularity spurred a prime‑time spin‑off, Our Private World, in 1965, and even a contractual clause that, for a time, prevented the character from grand‑motherhood—an unprecedented demand in network daytime at the time.
Industry accolades followed: a Supporting Actress Emmy nomination in 1988, induction into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998, and a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
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Beyond Oakdale, Fulton appeared on Broadway in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, off‑Broadway in The Fantasticks, toured a cabaret act, and published two memoirs along with a series of mystery novels.
Fans, historians, and fellow actors flooded social media with remembrances that hailed her for pioneering complex female anti‑heroes and sustaining ATWT’s dominance during the soap boom.
Services will be held August 9 at Central United Methodist Church in Asheville; the family suggests contributions to scholarship funds at Brevard College and Greensboro College in lieu of flowers.
No formal statement had been released by CBS or the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences by late Monday, yet commentators stressed that Fulton’s 50‑year run remains a high‑water mark few performers have approached.
