Actress shares 50th year with 'As the World Turns'

LOS ANGELES, Apr 2 (Reuters) While actors young enough to be her grandchildren come and go on television, soap opera veteran Helen Wagner has earned a place in the Guinness World Records by playing one role for 50 years.

The 87-year-old actress says the secret to her longevity as matriarch Nancy Hughes on the CBS daytime drama ''As the World Turns'' is simple.

''They kept offering me a contract, so I kept doing it. And they kept writing things for me, so I kept saying them,'' Wagner recounted in a recent interview. ''I didn't think about leaving or not leaving.'' Years after James Arness of ''Gunsmoke'' and Kelsey Grammer of ''Frasier'' retired from their respective record-tying 20-year roles in prime time, Wagner still reigns supreme as the longest-running character on any TV show played by a single actor.

She has portrayed the kindly but plain-spoken Nancy Hughes since ''As the World Turns'' opened on April 2, 1956, and even uttered the show's very first line of dialogue (spoken to her TV husband): ''Good morning dear, what would you like for breakfast?'' As the sole original cast member on the series, Wagner and her alter ego have witnessed more than their share of tragedy and star-crossed romance, sibling rivalries, marital infidelity and treachery. Nancy has grieved the deaths of her beloved TV daughter and first husband, remarried and endured the gradual fading of her second spouse through Alzheimer' disease.

HISTORIC BROADCAST Spanning the tenures of 10 U.S. presidents dating from Dwight Eisenhower, Wagner's stint on ''As the World Turns'' also includes a unique real-life historical footnote.

It was a scene with co-star Santos Ortega (Grandpa Hughes) that was interrupted by the first CBS News bulletins reporting the assassination of President John Kennedy on November 22, 1963.

The cast, which performed live in those days, initially continued with the show, unaware of the tragedy unfolding in Dallas or that their programme was being cut short.

''When Santos and I got off the set, having finished our scene, we came to the door, and Charlie Paul, who was playing the organ, said, 'JFK was shot.' And that's the first we had heard of it.'' MORE REUTERS PV VC0950