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Celebrated daytime soap opera writer, Agnes Nixon, who created “All My Children” and “One Life to Live,” died Wednesday in Rosemont. She was 93.
Nixon, who was born in Chicago and lived in Rosemont, drew inspiration from the Main Line, using its communities to craft a fictionalized version to serve as backdrops for her ever-popular soap operas. Pine Valley, the location of “All My Children,” was said to have its roots in both Rosemont and Bryn Mawr, while Llanview, the base of “One Life to Live,” was modeled after Ardmore. Her knack for dramatics resulted in two shows that were all but synonymous with the genre.
While soap operas are often written off for fantasy due to their dramatic plots, Nixon was paramount in bringing controversial topics to the forefront of mainstream culture, using her shows as platforms. In “One Life to Live,” which debuted in 1968, finishing its illustrious run in 2012, and “All My Children” which began airing in 1970, with a network completion in 2011, she broached topics ranging from abuse to racism to drug abuse to health awareness, introducing topics including uterine cancer and AIDS.
Nixon made brief appearances on both shows, including the 40th anniversary episode of “One Life to Live.” Both shows ran for over 40 years.
Prior to creating her own shows, Nixon was a writer on “Search for Tomorrow,” “As the World Turns,” “The Guiding Light” and “Another World.” She won four of the nine Daytime Emmy awards she was nominated for, including a lifetime achievement award in 2010.
