A funeral for an Asheville native who was an internationally known actress, singer, and author was held on Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Central United Methodist Church in Asheville.
Eileen Fulton, best known for her portrayal of Lisa, a role she played for 50 years on the CBS soap opera “As The World Turns” (ATWT), died on July 14 at the age of 91.
She was born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty in Asheville on Sept. 13, 1933, to James B. McLarty, a Methodist minister who served congregations in western North Carolina; and Margaret Glenn McLarty, a public school teacher.
After graduating from Greensboro College in 1956, Fulton performed in the outdoor drama “The Lost Colony in Manteo” before moving to New York to pursue her acting career.
She studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse with Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner, and dance with Martha Graham. At this time, she began using her stage name, Eileen Fulton.
In 1960, Fulton was cast in her most popular role as Lisa Miller on ATWT. Her character had eight husbands. She also relished playing the opposite of how she grew up.
“I had a lot of experience being conniving as a minister’s daughter,” she told NPR in 2010. “I found the people in my daddy’s church fascinating. When I went up for Lisa, she was just a nice girl next door. I didn’t want to play anything so close to myself, so I decided to just give her a background.”
The show, which ran for 54 years, holds the fourth-longest run of any daytime network soap opera on American television. During the height of its popularity, the show had 10 million viewers a day.
In 1965, Fulton starred as Lisa in a short-lived spinoff of ATWT called “Our Private World.”
During the same period, she also appeared on Broadway in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” and off-Broadway in the musical “The Fantasticks.”
Fulton was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1998 and was awarded a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
She also had a cabaret act and recorded an album in 1970 called “The Same Old World.” The same year, she co-authored her first autobiography, “How My World Turns.” In 1995, she co-authored a second autobiography, “As My World Still Turns, ” and authored a series of mystery novels.
In 2005, she was awarded an honorary doctorate at her alma mater, Greensboro College, when she spoke at their commencement.
Fulton retired in 2019 and moved back to Black Mountain. She is survived by her brother, sister-in-law, a niece, and her children.
Groce Funeral Home in Asheville handled the funeral arrangements.
Memorial contributions can be made to the Reverend James B. McLarty Music Scholarship at Brevard College in Brevard, or the Margaret Glenn McLarty ’28 and Eileen Fulton Music Scholarship Fund at Greensboro College in Greensboro.
The post Asheville’s Eileen Fulton remembered for iconic acting career first appeared on Carolina Journal.
The post Asheville’s Eileen Fulton remembered for iconic acting career appeared first on First In Freedom Daily.
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