Daytime Icon Eileen Fulton (Lisa, As the World Turns) Dies at the Age of 91
The daytime world has said goodbye to an icon — As the World Turns star Eileen Fulton (Lisa) passed away at the age of 91. Her obituary reports that she died on July 14, 2025, in Asheville, NC, “after a period of declining health.” Born Margaret Elizabeth McLarty in Asheville to James B. McLarty, a Methodist minister, and Margaret Glenn McLarty, a public school teacher, Fulton had her parents’ support when she moved to New York City to pursue an acting career, studying with Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasberg.
Daytime Diva
After changing her name to Eileen Fulton, the actress co-starred with Anne Francis in the 1960 film Girl of the Night. Soon after, she was cast as Lisa Miller on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns, making her debut on May 18, 1960. Originally married to Bob Hughes (Don Hastings), Lisa proved a delicious troublemaker who enjoyed multiple marriages and affairs during her decades on the show. Fulton remained with ATWT through to its final episode in 2010, with brief breaks over the years where the role was temporarily recast. She was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1988 and, in 2004, received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmys.
While appearing on ATWT, Fulton also moonlighted on the NYC stage, appearing in Abe Lincoln in Illinois with Hal Holbrook, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, and The Fantasticks. In 1965, ATWT creator Irna Phillips launched a primetime spinoff of the daytime drama titled Our Private World, which centered around the character of Lisa. The series lasted for several months, after which Fulton returned to ATWT.
In 1970, Fulton co-authored an autobiography titled How My World Turns and released an album, The Same Old World. In the ‘80s, she penned a series of murder mystery novels, and in 1995, co-authored a second autobiography, As My World Still Turns, timed to coincide with her 35th anniversary on ATWT. She also wrote a fiction novel loosely based on her daytime career titled Soap Opera. She also regularly performed cabaret in New York City while appearing on the soap.
In 2019, Fulton retired and moved back to North Carolina. She is survived by her brother, Charles Furman McLarty (Karen), niece Katherine Morris (David) and their children, Everly Ann Morris and Easton Lane Morris, and sister-in-law Chris Page McLarty. She was predeceased by her parents and her brother, James Fulton McLarty. Services will be held on August 9, and in lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Reverend James B. McLarty Music Scholarship at Brevard College in Brevard, NC, or the Margaret Glenn McLarty ’28 and Eileen Fulton Music Scholarship Fund at Greensboro College in Greensboro, NC.
Our thoughts are with her friends and family during this difficult time.
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