From MC to CBS

Wagner celebrates 50 years as daytime soap star

By Marisa Kratochvil
Editor-in-Chief

It has been said that Monmouth College produces talented and ambitious graduates who continue to lead life in a manner to make Monmouth proud. One such alumna, Helen Wager, has fulfilled this statement and has gone on to become an accredited actress.

Wagner, who graduated from MC in 1938, was recently recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records for playing a single role for 50 years.

At 87 years old, she has been playing the gentle and soft-spoken character of Nancy Hughes on the CBS daytime drama “As the World Turns,” and continues to be the sole original cast member on the series.

As for the longevity of Nancy’s character, Wagner attributes it to common sense.

“They kept offering me a contract, so I kept doing it. And they kept writing things for me, so I kept saying them. I didn’t think about leaving or not leaving,” she said in an article by Steve Gorman for Reuters Limited.

Doug Rankin, professor of communication and theater arts at MC, was fortunate enough to know and work with Wagner during the production, “A Lion in Winter.”

“I first met Helen in 1978 [when] she was visiting campus and I was her student guide. I got to know her pretty well and she invited me to New York. At the time, our dean of women, Marjorie Work, had a daughter playing the lead in ‘Vanities’ Off-Broadway [and] I decided to make a trip to NYC to meet with both of them.”

Rankin further described how he was able to visit the CBS studios and watch a taping of “As the World Turns.”

“Helen got me VIP treatment and I met most of the cast,” he added. “I watched the taping from the control booth.”

The next time Rankin and Wagner met was in 1990 when she was the national chair of the fundraising campaign for the proposed Wells Theater.

“At some point,” he said, “it was suggested that the inaugural production in the new theater be ‘A Lion in Winter.’ They needed a male lead to work with her, and I was asked to fill the part.”

Rankin will never forget the opening night gala when Wagner made her entrance.

“It was one of those moments. As she walked to the center of the stage, it might have been Katherine Hepburn. The audience burst into applause and it lasted for what seemed like several minutes. The rest of the evening was magic.”

In addition to visiting Monmouth and being actively involved with Wells Theater, Wagner received the college’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1963.

Rankin added, “I will always remember Helen as one of the most energetic and warm human beings I have ever met.”

“As the World Turns” made its debut on April 2, 1956, and Wagner spoke the show’s very first line of dialogue: “Good morning, dear, what would you like for breakfast?” to her television husband.

Regardless of her diminishing airtime in recent years due to the arrival of new actors, Wagner remains a major figure in the fictional Chicago suburb of Oakdale, where the show is set.

“She is ... Oakdale’s conscience,” said executive producer Christopher Goutman. “Even the worst of our villains know that they can’t pull the wool over Mrs. Hughes’ eyes.”