Agnes nixon net worth
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Agnes Nixon dies at 93; creator of ‘One Life to Live’ and ‘All My Children’
The grand dame of daytime television drama, Agnes Nixon liked to say that “everyone’s life is a soap opera.” For proof, she offered up her own.
She had an “abandonment complex” because her parents divorced soon after she was born. Growing up in an Irish-Catholic enclave in Nashville in the 1930s and 1940s, she felt painfully different because the other children all seemed to have fathers. Hers was “nearly psychotic” and schemed to crush her post-collegiate dream of being a writer.
He wanted his daughter to follow him into his burial garments business and arranged for her to meet Irna Phillips, a pioneering writer of radio serials who her father was certain would “set me straight” regarding the foolishness of a writing career, Nixon often said.
And then Nixon invariably inserted a soap opera staple into the story — the plot twist. During the meeting, Phillips looked up from reading the sample script that was Nixon’s resume and asked, “How would you like to work for me?”
“It was one of the greatest mom
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Nixon, Agnes, 1922-2016
Dates
Biography
Agnes Eckhardt Nixon was born on December 10, 1922 in Chicago, Illinois. Nixon’s parents separated when she was a child, and she was raised by her mother and grandmother in Nashville. Upon graduation from St. Cecilia High School in Nashville, Nixon attended St. Mary’s College in South Bend, Indiana for two years before transferring to Northwestern University in fall of 1942. While at Northwestern, Nixon was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority as well as the honorary speech fraternity Zeta Phi Eta. As a student in Northwestern’s School of Speech, Nixon studied under famed drama teacher Alvina Krause and studied alongside fellow students Charlton Heston and Patricia Neal. Additionally, Nixon began writing radio plays while at Northwestern, including a piece titled “No Flags Flying,” which based upon the story of her late fiancé, an aviator who had been killed tragically during World War II.
Upon graduation from Northwestern in 1944, Nixon began writing radio plays under Irna Phillips, who is considered to be the creator of the moder
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Nixon, Agnes
BORN: December 10, 1927 • Chicago, Illinois
American television producer, television writer
Agnes Nixon is frequently called the queen of the contemporary soap opera. During a career that has spanned over fifty years, she wrote for and created some of television's best-loved daytime dramas, such as All My Children and One Life to Live. She also received praise from television critics and viewers alike for addressing current events and controversial issues in her work.
"I am a storyteller and I like the dramatic form. To me it's just the thing I love to do. Seeing it come to life on the air by actors is just a great thrill for me."
Becoming a soap opera writer
Agnes Eckhardt Nixon was born on December 10, 1927, in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Harry Eckhardt, manufactured burial garments (clothing for the dead). Her mother, Agnes Eckhardt, was a treasurer for an insurance company. They divorced when Agnes was young. An only child, Agnes was raised mostly in Nashville, Tennessee. She turned to writing at an early age as a means to escape the controllin
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