This week I took time out to read Susan Lucci’s memoir All My Life, which was co-written with Laura Morton. The over 300-page book had some interesting tidbits. In this entry I am going to share some of it and my other thoughts on the book.
The book has two photo sections. She shares photos of Erica along with ones of herself and people who’ve been important in her life. There are professional photos (like from Annie Get Your Gun and Dancing with the Stars) and personal ones like her girlfriends from college or her children and grandchildren. She also writes a bit about her home in Garden City, New York and some of the products she has promoted.
A lot is written about Susan’s Daytime Emmy win after 19 nominations. The parodies that came out of her not winning were also mentioned like her visit to Saturday Night Live and her Sweet One commercial. I remember watching the SNL episode in my bed on my little travel television hoping my parents wouldn’t make me shut it off and go to sleep. And yes I can tell you where I was when Susan won her Emmy, at my sister’s home in the backroom while everyone else was hanging out as the Daytime Emmys were on and I wasn’t going to miss them. That event is kind of a cultural landmark at least in my soap fandom, as it finally happened after all those years of waiting.
Susan’s life prior to AMC is also discussed. We hear about her parents and the grandmother who lived with them. She writes about the teachers who inspired her. Other topics of her time before AMC include her college years, her former fiancé, the car accident and her courtship with her husband of over 40 years Helmut Huber. Helmut was the chef where she worked over the summer as a teen. He was a decade older, the boss and they clashed. After breaking up with her fiancé, she and Helmut fell in love. How they met, how he wooed her and keep the relationship fresh are all in this book.
The health issues Susan and her family have gone through over the years are also touched upon in a sensitive way. Susan miscarried within the time frame that Erica had the famous abortion. People at her local church were not kind to her due to her even playing the abortion plot. Liza and Andreas (her children) are part of the book too. Susan talks about Andreas nearly dying after he was born due to the flu, Liza’s pregnancies and Helmut’s irregular heartbeat and cancer diagnosis.
When it comes to topics related to All My Children, she talks about a lot of her former co-stars in a positive way. Fra Heflin (who played her mother Mona) gets a lot of discussion. David Canary and the character of Adam also are featured, and mentions are made to Erica’s best friend Opal (Jill Larson) and her frenemy Brooke (Julia Barr). Most of the men that Erica has been married to or dated seriously were referenced in some manner. What is funny is she says she believes the love of Erica’s life was the deceased Mike Roy. Susan also goes into what it was like to tape AMC in the early days, how her dressing room in LA is smaller than the one she had in NYC, and a diva moment she had on the set of the show many years ago.
Throughout the book, different Erica Kane stories are discussed. The two I didn’t see mentioned are Erica kidnapping Maria’s baby and how Erica’s aborted child eventually came back to Pine Valley as an adult. When I think of controversial stories that Susan has done, those two top the list, so I can understand why they were not included in the text.
Susan’s professional life outside AMC also is discussed. She talks about guest hosting talk shows in real life (as Erica eventually had a talk show of her own), her experience on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun, her nightclub act with Regis, television movies and Dallas. There is an entire chapter about her time on Dancing with the Stars.
The book ends with lists of her Favorite things. My first thought was that’s so Oprah, my second was The Sound of Music. Since parts of it were played at her wedding to Helmut that fits especially as he is Austrian. While she talks about her successes, she also mentions things that haven’t gone as well. I appreciate that Susan didn’t write only about the positive experiences in her life, but also her foibles.
Susan shares her life story in this book and makes an interesting read. While not as outrageous as Erica’s, it does have drama and humor. Susan as a girl had big dreams and went for them. Luckily for her and her fans she was able to succeed as a performer.
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