ALL MY CHILDREN: Susan Lucci on Erica Kane’s Television Legacy

With ALL MY CHILDREN ending its ABC run today, there is no doubt television is losing out on something really special. And of course, with Susan Lucci likely not moving to the online version of the soap, today’s show is potentially the last time viewers will get to see Erica Kane.

Lucci sat down with reporters last month to talk about the end of AMC’s run on ABC and she was asked what she thought Erica Kane’s legacy would be. Her answer is lovely, thoughtful and (if you’re an AMC fan), may make you tear up a little bit…

Well, I have been traveling around the country a lot lately and I’ve had — this is just so amazing to me —  women come up to me and say, it’s because of Erica Kane that I became a lawyer. It’s because of Erica Kane that I believed in myself enough to start my own business, to get my Master’s degree, to go back to school, to do whatever it was that they wanted to do. That thrills me. That in spite of all of her flaws and naughtiness, that what they get from her is her spirit and that she refused to live her life as a victim and that she picks herself up and goes forward. So, you know, that’s touched me a great deal.

Also, women from all over the country will come up to me and say, “I learned to speak English by watching Erica Kane.” I was taught as an actress that a really good sign of acting is that if you don’t understand exactly what they’re saying, the words, but you know what’s going on, and that they thought she was somebody that they would switch over all those dials and they decided to watch me and learn to speak English from me. I do ask them sometimes, “Did you become a big diva?” [Laughs] But those kinds of things are amazing to me. And s people say, vixen and willful and femme fatale and all of that and that’s, I have no problem with that type! I’m happy people are thinking that. That’s fun as an actress but what makes me really, really happy is that they also got the heart. They also got the heart and the humor from her and that she wasn’t nasty and bitchy for its own sake. That she was looking for love and they could get that. They understood that and I think that’s identifiable. I think that’s relatable. I don’t know if that’s the answer to a legacy question, I don’t know. I guess time will tell.

Erica Kane, you will be missed.

Check back at Give Me My Remote later for more from the ALL MY CHILDREN cast!

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