THE NATIONAL ACADEMY
OF TELEVISION ARTS & SCIENCES
ANNOUNCES
The 37th ANNUAL DAYTIME ENTERTAINMENT
EMMY® AWARD LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD TO BE
PRESENTED TO AGNES NIXON
Creator of “All My Children,” ”One Life To Live” and other
Daytime Serial Dramas
Daytime Emmy® Awards to Be Telecast on June 27th, 2010
On The CBS Television Network from the Las Vegas Hilton
New York – May 12, 2010 – The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
(NATAS) today announced that Agnes Nixon, the grand dame of Daytime serial
drama, will receive the 37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards
Lifetime Achievement Award. The Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards will
be broadcast from Las Vegas for the first time on June 27th, 2010 over the CBS
Television Network.
“The honoring of Agnes Nixon, the creator of so many classic daytime drama
series, brings a real sense of grandeur and excitement to this year’s Daytime
Emmy® Awards and we’re looking forward to an electrifying show,” said Herb
Granath, Chairman, NATAS.
“The recognition of Agnes Nixon and her body of work across the Daytime genre
is humbling and awe inspiring,” said Brent Stanton, Executive Director, Daytime
Entertainment Emmy® Awards. “Her fostering of programs such as Guiding
Light, Another World and All My Children made her not only the most esteemed
woman working in the genre, but a renowned creator amongst her peers.”
“I am incredibly thrilled that Agnes Nixon is receiving the lifetime achievement
award,” said Emmy® Award winning actress, Susan Lucci, All My Children. She
has helped create the very fabric of the daytime drama. With her vision, words
and sensibility, she has created a legacy of characters and socially relevant stories
that have made and indelible mark upon the lives of those who have and
continue to watch her shows. Like many who have worked on her shows both
on and off camera, I am personally grateful to Agnes for allowing me to breathe
life into this role of a lifetime. Playing Erica Kane has been a privilege and an
honor. We are all so very lucky that Agnes continues to guide our shows and
inspire our lives to this very day.”
One of the foremost women of television serial drama, Agnes Nixon is a rare
personality in the world of entertainment – she has had a serial on the air five
days a week, 52 weeks a year for over 45 years. She is the creator of the ABC
Television Network’s One Life to Live, All My Children and Loving, in addition to
working on other shows such as Search for Tomorrow, As the World Turns, Guiding
Light and Another World.
Agnes is recognized as the pioneer in introducing social relevance to daytime
television. Highly controversial topics which, at the time polarized the
population, such as the Vietnam War, drug addiction, child abuse, racism,
abortion and AIDS have all been dramatically dealt with in Nixon storylines. In
the process, Nixon totally changed the traditionally escapist nature of daytime
serials while striving to make the world a better place. Nixon said, “My aim has
been the fostering of dialogue on important issues between people of opposing
views in the hope of fostering a mutual understanding and respect.”
A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Mrs. Nixon, then Agnes Eckhardt, graduated
from the Northwestern School of Speech and moved to New York, where she
became a freelance writer for such outstanding television dramatic series as
“Studio One,” “Philco Playhouse,” “Robert Montgomery Presents,” “Somerset
Maugham Theatre,” “Armstrong Circle Theatre,” “Hallmark Hall of Fame,” “My
True Story” and “Cameo Theatre.” When nighttime programs moved west, Miss
Nixon, by then married to Robert Nixon, a Chrysler executive, stayed in the east
and began writing daytime serials.
Mrs. Nixon has been a guest writer for The New York Times and TV Guide, and
was featured in the cover article of the Los Angeles Sunday Times Magazine of
August 25, 1991. She has appeared on “Good Morning America,” “Tomorrow,”
“The Dick Cavett Show,” “The David Frost Show,” “The Merv Griffin Show,”
“Mike Douglas,” “Oprah,” “20/20,” “Hour Magazine,” “Signature,” “Evening
Magazine,” “That’s Entertainment” and “The Class of the Twentieth Century.”
She has also been a guest lecturer at many universities, including Princeton, Ohio
State, University of Maryland, Harvard and the Annenberg School of
Communications.
In the spring of 1981, Mrs. Nixon was the recipient of the prestigious National
Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Trustees Award. In presenting the
award, Barbara Walters noted that Agnes Nixon was both the first writer and
first woman to be so honored by the Academy.
Mrs. Nixon is a member of the International Radio and Television Society, and of
the Museum of Television and Radio; a trustee of the National Arthritis
Foundation; serves on the Advisory Council of Wilmer Ophthalmological
Institute; and is one of a ten-member board of the Harvard Foundation,
established by President Derek Bok and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences with the
purpose of fostering racial harmony in the Harvard community with the hope
that it will be emulated by other schools throughout the country. She also is a
recipient of the Harvard Foundation Award.
In 1993 Mrs. Nixon received a Gold Plate Award from the American Academy of
Achievement. Also during that year she was inducted into the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences’ Television Hall of Fame.
Mrs. Nixon lives in suburban Philadelphia in a pre-Revolutionary home that was
an inn during that period of history. She has four children: Cathy, Mary, Robert,
and Emily, and eleven grandchildren: Ceara and Faye Foley; Kelly and Amy
Chicos; Erin, Rory and Galen Hiltbrand; Oliver Langworthy; and Bobby, Maggie
and Jack Nixon.
The 37th Annual Daytime Emmy® Awards is a presentation of the National
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in cooperation with the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences.
The Las Vegas Hilton is the official hotel of the Daytime Entertainment Emmy®
Awards. American Airlines is the official airline.
About The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is a professional
service organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of
television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational and
technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in
television with the coveted Emmy® Award for News & Documentary, Sports,
Daytime Entertainment, Daytime Creative Arts & Entertainment, Public &
Community Service, Technology & Engineering, and Business & Financial
Reporting. Regional Emmy® Awards are given in 19 regions across the United
States. NATAS also presents the National Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences Global Media Awards™ which recognizes excellence in the world-wide
intersection of digital entertainment and technology. Beyond awards, NATAS
has extensive educational programs including National Student Television and
its Student Award for Excellence for outstanding journalistic work by high
school students, as well as scholarships, publications, and major activities for
both industry professionals and the viewing public. For more information,
please visit the website at www.emmyonline.tv
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For More Information:
Paul Pillitteri, Director Communications, NATAS
[email protected]