The Secret Storm
Encyclopedia
The Secret Storm is a soap opera
which ran on CBS
from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor
, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow
and Love of Life
. Gloria Monty
of General Hospital
fame was a longtime director of the series.
, his wife Ellen
, and their three children: Susan, Jerry, and Amy
. Ellen was killed in the first episode and subsequent stories focused on Peter raising his three children. Lending a hand, however dubiously, was Peter's sister in-law, also his former fiancée, Pauline Rysdale
(Haila Stoddard
).
Later the villainous Belle Clemens
(Marla Adams
) was the main source of trouble for Woodbridge, taking over from Aunt Pauline, the show's original villain. Originally due to die of kidney disease, the writers had Belle's daughter drown in an accident. Belle blamed Amy for the death.
as used on many younger soap opera characters. Jada Rowland
played the character, minus a few breaks, for the duration of the show's run.
Actress/writer Stephanie Braxton and actor Dan Hamilton met while performing on the show. They later married in real life. Lori March, who played Valerie Hill Ames for many years, later played the wife of her real life husband Alexander Scorby. Actress Diana Muldaur married her co-star, James Vickery, in real life.
Actress Diane Ladd
played the role of Kitty Styles from 1971-1972, after actress Diana Millay
left the role in 1971.
, at the time over 60 years old, filled in for her ailing daughter, Christina Crawford
, who played the role of Joan Borman Kane, a character aged just 28. The episodes aired on October 25, 28, 29, and 30, 1968. Although no full shows with Joan Crawford are known to exist, clips from some episodes have appeared on YouTube
. The 1981 film Mommie Dearest
portrayed Crawford's appearance without specifying the name of the series.
and On Your Account (later The Edge of Night
). Beginning in 1957, it would compete against ABC
's American Bandstand
, then a five-day-a-week show (it was reduced to Saturdays-only in 1963).
On June 18, 1962 CBS expanded Storm to 30 minutes. The Brighter Day
was moved to an early-morning time slot. Storm took over the 4:00 PM timeslot, where it ran for six years, mainly competing against NBC
's The Match Game
. However, 1966 witnessed the premiere of the soap Dark Shadows
on ABC, and that (later the Dating Game) prompted CBS to move Storm ahead an hour to 3:00 PM (2:00 Central) on September 9, 1968. There, it faced NBC's fast-rising Another World
.
Storm was the last daytime soap opera on the three major TV networks to convert to color. It did so on March 11, 1968.
After four years of mediocre success, CBS next tried it a half-hour later beginning on September 4, 1972 as part of a major overhaul of the network's daytime lineup. It managed to run about even with ABC's One Life to Live
and, deciding to put in stronger competition at the 3:30 PM (2:30 Central) slot, CBS returned Storm to its mid-1960s 4:00 PM slot on March 26. There, it faced reruns on ABC and the television show Somerset
on NBC - but its audience share and ratings would not be enough to save it from cancellation in an increasingly cost-competitive network daytime scene.
In November, with affiliate pre-emptions like KPIX's mounting and an economic recession causing a decline in ad revenues, CBS made the decision to cancel the serial in favor of a less-expensive game show
, Tattletales
. This had also been the reason for the cancellations of Where the Heart Is
and Love is a Many Splendored Thing the previous year.
In all the turmoil of its later years, the main reason for the show's demise was likely CBS' choice to buy the show from the original sponsor/packager, American Home Products, in 1969. One effect of the purchase was that the show suffered from numerous changes in head writers and producers. Upon CBS' cancellation, AHP reacquired the rights to Storm in an attempt to move the show to another network. After NBC executive Lin Bolen rejected the show in favor of a project of hers, How to Survive a Marriage
, and ABC chose to use its daytime budget to buy out Agnes Nixon
's soaps, an effort to syndicate the show failed because AHP could not obtain enough clearances among affiliates in the largest markets to justify continued production.
That failure occurred largely because of scheduling complications local stations would have faced. Storm would likely have aired on ABC affiliates between 10:00 and 11:30 AM (when the network feed began for the day) or on CBS or NBC stations during their respective networks' half-hour breaks at 1:00 PM (Noon Central). This would have meant that the soap would have faced in either case considerably stronger network programming (game shows in the first case, ABC's All My Children
in the second). Stations could have preempted their network feeds to run the syndicated version, but would probably have not done so because the program's relatively high production expenses (compared to situation comedy
reruns or talk shows) would have been passed down to the local station's purchase price. That in turn would have reduced potential profits from local advertising, likely to the point of amounting to less than the network's payment for a half hour of station airtime.
The 5,195th and final Secret Storm episode aired one week after the show's 20th anniversary.
For the last several years of the show, the theme song was the theme from the second movement of the Concerto for Violin and Violincello by Johannes Brahms
. The in-house organist was Charles Paul
. Carey Gold provided the music during the show's last years.
and his wife, Ellen
. After her mother's death in a car accident, she became the new mother figure in the family. She was usually responsible for the well being of her younger siblings, Jerry Ames
, and her youngest sister, Amy
. She also resented any plans of her father to remarry, a situation shared by her maternal aunt, Pauline Rysdale
. Despite all her plans, though, he did eventually remarry. First to Myra Lake, whom she outright despised; and then to Valerie
, whom she somewhat got along with.
At some times, Susan had a lot of anger and animosity towards her father and his constant belief of principles. She tended to back people of very little or no principle, such as Frank Bennett, whom her husband had worked for, but resigned from his job, due to his unethical means; also backing her Aunt Pauline's divorce; and backing an embezzler named Bryan Fuller, who was also enamored of Aunt Pauline.
She was married to a man named Alan Dunbar, (James Vickery) a former golf pro who was involved in a drug ring. He slowly broke away from that life, and married Susan. She also had his son named Peter, named after her father, Peter. Susan and Alan were happy, despite some storms, especially dealing with his fellow newspaper reporter Ann Wicker, who was seducing Alan. He almost succumbed to tempation, but still remained a good husband, until he was presumed dead in Vietnam.
Thinking that he's dead, Susan married a man named Frank Carver. Until Alan, now played by Liam Sullivan, turned up alive, and his war experiences made him psychotic. He also reestablished his mafia connections. Susan annulled her marriage to Frank and returned to Alan. She and Alan left Woodbridge in the late 60's and early 70's, leaving her sister, Amy, to be the only Ames left in Woodbridge. Her brother, Jerry, married to a painter named Hope, had already moved to Paris.
Susan Ames Dunbar Carver was played by several different actresses. Jean Mowry originated the role in 1954 and departed in 1956, going on to play Pat Cunningham on As the World Turns
from 1957-1959 until retiring from acting to marry.
Rachel Taylor then took on the role before departing the show in 1957. Actress Tori Darnay temporarily played Susan. Norma Moore stepped into the role in 1958 but was soon replaced by Mary Foskett that same year who successfully carried on Susan's role until 1964 when Frances Helm took on the role for a few months before she was replaced by Judy Lewis
(the illegitimate daughter of Loretta Young
and Clark Gable
). Lewis
left the show in 1968 and Diana Van der Vlis
temporarily replaced her. Van der Vlis was then replaced by Mary McGregor who was in turn replaced by Lewis
when she returned to the show in 1969. Lewis
played the role until 1971 when the character took her exit.
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
which ran on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
from February 1, 1954 to February 8, 1974. The series was created by Roy Winsor
Roy Winsor
Roy Winsor was an American soap opera writer, creator and novelist.Roy Winsor was born in Chicago Illinois in 1912. He is most famous for creating some of the longest running soap operas in television history. Before he created television soap operas he wrote for many radio serials. He also...
, who also created the long-running soap operas Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow
Search for Tomorrow is an American soap opera which premiered on September 3, 1951 on CBS. The show was moved from CBS to NBC on March 29, 1982. It continued on NBC until the final episode aired on December 26, 1986, a run of thirty-five years. At the time of its final broadcast it was the...
and Love of Life
Love of Life
Love of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
. Gloria Monty
Gloria Monty
Gloria Monty was an American TV producer working primarily in the field of daytime drama.She died of cancer at the age of 84.-Education:...
of General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
fame was a longtime director of the series.
Plot
The story follows the Ames family, a prominent clan in the fictional Northeastern town of Woodbridge (eventually identified as being located in New York). The Ames family consisted of PeterPeter Ames
Peter Ames was the lead male character in the now-defunct American soap opera, The Secret Storm. Although played by many actors, Peter Hobbs was the actor most identified in the role.-Sudden widower:...
, his wife Ellen
Ellen Ames
Ellen Tyrell Ames was a fictional character in American Soap Opera The Secret Storm. She was played by Ellen Cobb-Hill.-The catalyst of the Storm:...
, and their three children: Susan, Jerry, and Amy
Amy Ames
Amy Ames Rysdale Britton Kincaid was a character in the long-running and now cancelled American Soap opera, The Secret Storm She was played, with a few breaks, here and there, by actress Jada Rowland, who grew up in the role, a rarity for any soap....
. Ellen was killed in the first episode and subsequent stories focused on Peter raising his three children. Lending a hand, however dubiously, was Peter's sister in-law, also his former fiancée, Pauline Rysdale
Pauline Rysdale
Pauline Tyrell Harris Rysdale, known more familiarly as "Aunt Pauline", was a character in the now-defunct American Soap Opera, The Secret Storm. She was played by actress Haila Stoddard.-Jilted sister:...
(Haila Stoddard
Haila Stoddard
Haila Stoddard was an American actor, producer, writer and director. During her career as an actress, Stoddard appeared in a number of plays, movies, and television series, including sixteen years as Pauline Rysdale in The Secret Storm from 1954 to 1970...
).
Later the villainous Belle Clemens
Belle Clemens
Belle Clemens was a fictional character on the now-defunct American soap opera The Secret Storm. She was played from 1968 to 1974 by actress Marla Adams.- Belle vs. Amy :...
(Marla Adams
Marla Adams
Marla Adams is an American soap opera actress, best known for her roles as Belle Clemens on The Secret Storm, from 1968 to 1974, and as Dina Abbott Mergeron on The Young and the Restless, from 1983 to 1986 and in 1996...
) was the main source of trouble for Woodbridge, taking over from Aunt Pauline, the show's original villain. Originally due to die of kidney disease, the writers had Belle's daughter drown in an accident. Belle blamed Amy for the death.
Development
Amy was allowed to age in real time and did not undergo rapid agingSoap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome
Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome is a term used to describe the practice of accelerating the age of a television character in conflict with the timeline of a series and/or the real-world progression of time. Characters unseen on screen for a time might reappear portrayed by an actor several years...
as used on many younger soap opera characters. Jada Rowland
Jada Rowland
Jada Rowland is an American actress and illustrator.-Actress:Ms. Rowland was born into a family of actors and artists. She has appeared on Broadway and television, most notably in daytime soap operas. She has appeared as Dr. Susan Stewart on As the World Turns and Carolee Simpson Aldrich on The...
played the character, minus a few breaks, for the duration of the show's run.
Actress/writer Stephanie Braxton and actor Dan Hamilton met while performing on the show. They later married in real life. Lori March, who played Valerie Hill Ames for many years, later played the wife of her real life husband Alexander Scorby. Actress Diana Muldaur married her co-star, James Vickery, in real life.
Actress Diane Ladd
Diane Ladd
Diane Ladd is an American actress, film director, producer and published author. She has appeared in over 120 roles, on television, and in miniseries and feature films, including Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore , Wild at Heart , Rambling Rose , Ghosts of Mississippi, Primary Colors, 28 Days , and...
played the role of Kitty Styles from 1971-1972, after actress Diana Millay
Diana Millay
Diana Millay is an American actress. She is best known for her work in television, having guest starred in close to 200 primetime TV shows and later played continuing roles on two daytime offerings, Dark Shadows and The Secret Storm.Diana started her career as a model, first as a child for the...
left the role in 1971.
Joan Crawford
In 1968, Joan CrawfordJoan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
, at the time over 60 years old, filled in for her ailing daughter, Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.-Early life and education:...
, who played the role of Joan Borman Kane, a character aged just 28. The episodes aired on October 25, 28, 29, and 30, 1968. Although no full shows with Joan Crawford are known to exist, clips from some episodes have appeared on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The 1981 film Mommie Dearest
Mommie Dearest (film)
Mommie Dearest is a 1981 American biographical drama film about Joan Crawford, starring Faye Dunaway. The film was directed by Frank Perry. The story was adapted for the screen by Robert Getchell, Tracy Hotchner, Frank Perry, and Frank Yablans, based on the 1978 autobiography of the same name by...
portrayed Crawford's appearance without specifying the name of the series.
Broadcast history
CBS first placed The Secret Storm at 4:15 PM (3:15 Central) as a 15-minute program, sandwiched between The Brighter DayThe Brighter Day
The Brighter Day is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from January 4, 1954 to September 28, 1962. Originally created for NBC radio by Irna Phillips in 1948, the radio and television versions ran simultaneously from 1954-1956...
and On Your Account (later The Edge of Night
The Edge of Night
The Edge of Night is an American television mystery series/soap opera produced by Procter & Gamble. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network until November 28, 1975; the series then moved to ABC, where it aired from December 1, 1975, until December 28, 1984...
). Beginning in 1957, it would compete against ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's American Bandstand
American Bandstand
American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer...
, then a five-day-a-week show (it was reduced to Saturdays-only in 1963).
On June 18, 1962 CBS expanded Storm to 30 minutes. The Brighter Day
The Brighter Day
The Brighter Day is an American daytime soap opera which aired on CBS from January 4, 1954 to September 28, 1962. Originally created for NBC radio by Irna Phillips in 1948, the radio and television versions ran simultaneously from 1954-1956...
was moved to an early-morning time slot. Storm took over the 4:00 PM timeslot, where it ran for six years, mainly competing against NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Match Game
Match Game
Match Game is an American television game show in which contestants attempted to match celebrities' answers to fill-in-the-blank questions...
. However, 1966 witnessed the premiere of the soap Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
on ABC, and that (later the Dating Game) prompted CBS to move Storm ahead an hour to 3:00 PM (2:00 Central) on September 9, 1968. There, it faced NBC's fast-rising Another World
Another World (TV series)
Another World is an American television soap opera that ran on NBC from May 4, 1964 to June 25, 1999. It ran for a total of 35 years. It was created by Irna Phillips along with William J...
.
Storm was the last daytime soap opera on the three major TV networks to convert to color. It did so on March 11, 1968.
After four years of mediocre success, CBS next tried it a half-hour later beginning on September 4, 1972 as part of a major overhaul of the network's daytime lineup. It managed to run about even with ABC's One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
and, deciding to put in stronger competition at the 3:30 PM (2:30 Central) slot, CBS returned Storm to its mid-1960s 4:00 PM slot on March 26. There, it faced reruns on ABC and the television show Somerset
Somerset (TV series)
Somerset is an American television soap opera which ran on NBC from March 30, 1970 until December 31, 1976. The show was a spinoff of another NBC serial, Another World.-Overview :...
on NBC - but its audience share and ratings would not be enough to save it from cancellation in an increasingly cost-competitive network daytime scene.
In November, with affiliate pre-emptions like KPIX's mounting and an economic recession causing a decline in ad revenues, CBS made the decision to cancel the serial in favor of a less-expensive game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
, Tattletales
Tattletales
Tattletales is a game show which first aired on the CBS daytime schedule on February 18, 1974. It was hosted by Bert Convy, with several announcers, including Jack Clark, Gene Wood, Johnny Olson and John Harlan, providing the voiceover at various times...
. This had also been the reason for the cancellations of Where the Heart Is
Where the Heart Is (1969 TV series)
Where the Heart Is is an American soap opera telecast on the CBS television network from September 8, 1969 to March 23, 1973. Created by Lou Scofield and Margaret DePriest, the program ran for 25 minutes, the remaining five minutes of its timeslot ceded to a CBS news break.Scofield and DePriest...
and Love is a Many Splendored Thing the previous year.
In all the turmoil of its later years, the main reason for the show's demise was likely CBS' choice to buy the show from the original sponsor/packager, American Home Products, in 1969. One effect of the purchase was that the show suffered from numerous changes in head writers and producers. Upon CBS' cancellation, AHP reacquired the rights to Storm in an attempt to move the show to another network. After NBC executive Lin Bolen rejected the show in favor of a project of hers, How to Survive a Marriage
How to Survive a Marriage
How to Survive a Marriage is a soap opera which aired on the NBC television network from January 7, 1974 to April 17, 1975. The serial was created by Anne Howard Bailey, with much input from then-NBC Vice President Lin Bolen...
, and ABC chose to use its daytime budget to buy out Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon
Agnes Nixon is an American writer and producer. She attended Northwestern University where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority, and is best known as the creator of soap operas such as One Life to Live and All My Children...
's soaps, an effort to syndicate the show failed because AHP could not obtain enough clearances among affiliates in the largest markets to justify continued production.
That failure occurred largely because of scheduling complications local stations would have faced. Storm would likely have aired on ABC affiliates between 10:00 and 11:30 AM (when the network feed began for the day) or on CBS or NBC stations during their respective networks' half-hour breaks at 1:00 PM (Noon Central). This would have meant that the soap would have faced in either case considerably stronger network programming (game shows in the first case, ABC's All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
in the second). Stations could have preempted their network feeds to run the syndicated version, but would probably have not done so because the program's relatively high production expenses (compared to situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
reruns or talk shows) would have been passed down to the local station's purchase price. That in turn would have reduced potential profits from local advertising, likely to the point of amounting to less than the network's payment for a half hour of station airtime.
The 5,195th and final Secret Storm episode aired one week after the show's 20th anniversary.
Title sequences
The series had three distinctive opening visuals. The first was a shot of a tree with windblown branches. The second was a short-lived shot of a town with shots of people walking about. The third, had shots of the surf at high tide, crashing against the rocks.For the last several years of the show, the theme song was the theme from the second movement of the Concerto for Violin and Violincello by Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
. The in-house organist was Charles Paul
Charles Paul
Charles Paul is an American composer and organist, most known for his musical accompaniment on radio and television.Originally providing musical accompaniment to such old-time radio programs as The Adventures of Ellery Queen and Young Doctor Malone, he transitioned to television in the 1950s...
. Carey Gold provided the music during the show's last years.
Susan Ames Dunbar
Susan was the eldest daughter of Peter AmesPeter Ames
Peter Ames was the lead male character in the now-defunct American soap opera, The Secret Storm. Although played by many actors, Peter Hobbs was the actor most identified in the role.-Sudden widower:...
and his wife, Ellen
Ellen Ames
Ellen Tyrell Ames was a fictional character in American Soap Opera The Secret Storm. She was played by Ellen Cobb-Hill.-The catalyst of the Storm:...
. After her mother's death in a car accident, she became the new mother figure in the family. She was usually responsible for the well being of her younger siblings, Jerry Ames
Jerry Ames
Jerry Ames was an American tap dancer centered in New York. In 1977, he co-authored The Book of Tap: Recovering America's Long Lost Dance with Jim Siegelman. In 1980, he was a featured performer in the movie Tap Dancin' by Christian Blackwood. In 2006, he received a Flo Bert Award for his...
, and her youngest sister, Amy
Amy Ames
Amy Ames Rysdale Britton Kincaid was a character in the long-running and now cancelled American Soap opera, The Secret Storm She was played, with a few breaks, here and there, by actress Jada Rowland, who grew up in the role, a rarity for any soap....
. She also resented any plans of her father to remarry, a situation shared by her maternal aunt, Pauline Rysdale
Pauline Rysdale
Pauline Tyrell Harris Rysdale, known more familiarly as "Aunt Pauline", was a character in the now-defunct American Soap Opera, The Secret Storm. She was played by actress Haila Stoddard.-Jilted sister:...
. Despite all her plans, though, he did eventually remarry. First to Myra Lake, whom she outright despised; and then to Valerie
Valerie Hill Ames
Valerie Hill Ames Northcote was a fictional character on the now-defunct American Soap Opera, The Secret Storm. She was played from 1961 until the show's end in 1974, by actress Lori March.-The shelter for the Ames family:...
, whom she somewhat got along with.
At some times, Susan had a lot of anger and animosity towards her father and his constant belief of principles. She tended to back people of very little or no principle, such as Frank Bennett, whom her husband had worked for, but resigned from his job, due to his unethical means; also backing her Aunt Pauline's divorce; and backing an embezzler named Bryan Fuller, who was also enamored of Aunt Pauline.
She was married to a man named Alan Dunbar, (James Vickery) a former golf pro who was involved in a drug ring. He slowly broke away from that life, and married Susan. She also had his son named Peter, named after her father, Peter. Susan and Alan were happy, despite some storms, especially dealing with his fellow newspaper reporter Ann Wicker, who was seducing Alan. He almost succumbed to tempation, but still remained a good husband, until he was presumed dead in Vietnam.
Thinking that he's dead, Susan married a man named Frank Carver. Until Alan, now played by Liam Sullivan, turned up alive, and his war experiences made him psychotic. He also reestablished his mafia connections. Susan annulled her marriage to Frank and returned to Alan. She and Alan left Woodbridge in the late 60's and early 70's, leaving her sister, Amy, to be the only Ames left in Woodbridge. Her brother, Jerry, married to a painter named Hope, had already moved to Paris.
Susan Ames Dunbar Carver was played by several different actresses. Jean Mowry originated the role in 1954 and departed in 1956, going on to play Pat Cunningham on As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
from 1957-1959 until retiring from acting to marry.
Rachel Taylor then took on the role before departing the show in 1957. Actress Tori Darnay temporarily played Susan. Norma Moore stepped into the role in 1958 but was soon replaced by Mary Foskett that same year who successfully carried on Susan's role until 1964 when Frances Helm took on the role for a few months before she was replaced by Judy Lewis
Judy Lewis
Judy Lewis was an American actress, writer, producer, and therapist, and the secret biological daughter of actor Clark Gable and actress Loretta Young.-History:...
(the illegitimate daughter of Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
and Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
). Lewis
Lewis
Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
left the show in 1968 and Diana Van der Vlis
Diana Van der Vlis
Diana Van der Vlis was a Canadian stage, screen and television actress best known for her characters ‘Dr. Nell Beaulac’ on the ABC soap opera "Ryan's Hope" and 'Kate Hathaway Prescott’ on the CBS soap opera Where the Heart Is...
temporarily replaced her. Van der Vlis was then replaced by Mary McGregor who was in turn replaced by Lewis
Lewis
Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
when she returned to the show in 1969. Lewis
Lewis
Lewis is the northern part of Lewis and Harris, the largest island of the Western Isles or Outer Hebrides of Scotland. The total area of Lewis is ....
played the role until 1971 when the character took her exit.