FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 

THE NATIONAL TELEVISION ACADEMY ANNOUNCES
THE 31^ST ANNUAL DAYTIME EMMY AWARDS
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS  

Ten Veteran Actors to Be Honored

Award Ceremony To Be Broadcast Live On NBC
From Radio City Music Hall on May 21^st
 

NEW YORK – February 2, 2004 – The National Television Academy today announced the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients for the 31^st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.  The Award, usually given to one individual, is for the first time being presented to ten veteran actors who have devoted a major portion of their careers to Daytime Drama. They are: Rachel Ames, John Clarke, Jeanne Cooper, Eileen Fulton, Don Hastings, Anna Lee, Ray MacDonnell, Frances Reid, Helen Wagner, and Ruth Warrick. 

The presentation will be made at the 31^st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards which will be held on Friday, May 21^st, 2004 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The Daytime Emmy Awards honor excellence in all fields of daytime television production and are judged and administered in cooperation with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  This year’s ceremony will be broadcast live on NBC.

Criteria for the Award included the actor’s position as an original cast member of his or her current show; 35 or more years on the show; and/or significant lifetime experience in Daytime Drama. 

 “We at the Academy felt that the time was appropriate to honor a number of venerable actors who have contributed so much to Daytime Drama,” said Peter Price, President of the National Television Academy, “In so doing, we recognize not only each of the esteemed actors, but also the daytime serial drama genre which has allowed them to have such a full and long-lived career.”

Below are brief bios of each of the Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. 

Rachel Ames: Daughter to well-known motion picture and television actors, Dorothy Adams and the late Byron Foulger, Ms. Ames has been with General Hospital since the first year of the program’s air date in 1964 playing the role of Audrey Hardy, R.N.  Ames has the esteemed honor of being the longest running performer on ABC’s longest running daytime drama.

John Clarke: War Veteran, master thespian and active member of his community, John is one of the originial cast members of Days of our Lives and has played the role of Mickey Horton for 38 years. 

Jeanne Cooper:  Jeanne Cooper recently celebrated her 30th anniversary as Katherine Chancellor, the grande dame of Genoa City, on The Young and the Restless.  She has been nominated for five Emmy Awards as Outstanding Leading Actress.  She won a Soap Opera Digest Award in 1989 as Outstanding Leading Actress and received the magazine's Editor's Award that same year.  She also received the MVP Award from Soap Opera Update in 1990.

Eileen Fulton: In 1960, Eileen originated the role of Lisa on As The World Turns with such aplomb that by 1965 she found herself in her own spin-off series on primetime television. She is the recipient of both the Soap Opera Digest Editor’s Award and Daytime TV Magazine's readers poll Best Actress Award and remained in the Top Ten in this category for the first 58 issues.  In 1996, Fulton received the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  Today she continues working on World Turns and performing her cabaret act at venues across the country.  In the last year alone, Fulton has starred in five independent films including Signs of the Cross, Tinsel Town and the soon to be released Rose, Woes and Joe’s.

Don Hastings:  He has played Dr. Bob Hughes on As The World Turns for over 40 years. His first daytime role was on The Edge of Night from 1956 – 1960.  As a previous member of the Writer’s Guild, he has written scripts for both As The World Turns and Guiding Light.  Prior to joining World Turns, Hastings starred as the Ranger on the children’s series Captain Video from 1949 – 1955.  In 1993 he was recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and received the Silver Circle Award for his more than 25 years of work in television. 

Anna Lee:  Ms. Lee has graced General Hospital with her performance of Lila Quartermaine since 1978.   She is an alum of the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the same school which produced Sir Lawrence Olivier and Sir John Gielgud.  She appeared in more than a dozen films in England and then came to the United States in 1939 where she worked with John Ford in the Academy Award winning How Green Was My Valley, the beginning of a 25 year, 8 picture collaboration. 

Ray MacDonnell: In 1970 Ray MacDonnell joined the original cast of All My Children and has since been playing one of Pine Valley’s most honored and upstanding characters, Dr. Joe Martin. A Fulbright scholar, Ray continued his studies at the Royal Academy in London after attending Amherst College.  He has several Broadway and off-Broadway credits to his name and spent nearly eight years portraying Philip Capice on The Edge of Night. 

Frances Reid: For 38 years,  Frances Reid has played Alice Horton on Days of our Lives and is the only remaining original cast member. She is a four-time recipient of the Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actress in a Mature Role and is a two-time Emmy Nominee.  Prior to her longstanding run on television, Reid appeared in several Broadway performances including Hamlet, Cyrano de Bergerac and Twelfth Night.

Helen Wagner: Helen Wagner said the first words, “Good Morning, dear,” when As The World Turns debuted in 1956 and continues to play the longest-running continuous character in television history.  She has several Broadway performances to her credit and has played alongside Rex Harrison, Jeanne Pierre Aumont and Lilli Palmer.  Wagner also toured as Blanche DuBois with Lee Marvin in A Streetcar Named Desire.  In 1988, Monmouth College in Illinois, her alma mater, awarded her with an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.  In 2001 she was recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and received the Silver Circle Award for her over 25 years of work in television. 

Ruth Warrick:  Ruth Warrick made her film debut in Citizen Kane playing Orson Welles’ wife and appeared steadily in films for the next decade.  She then found her way on to television soaps such as Guiding Light and As The World Turns as well as primetime roles on Father of the Bride and Peyton Place.  In 1970 she joined the cast of All My Children and has been playing Phoebe Tyler ever since.  Ten years later she published her autobiography, The Confessions of Phoebe Tyler.  Ms. Warrick is also active in the promotion of arts in education and received the first annual Arts In Education Award in1983, now named the Ruth Warrick Award.

Last year, Art Linkletter was the recipient of the National Television Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

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The National Television Academy 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, Creative Craft, Public & Community Service, Technology & Engineering/Advanced Media and Business & Financial Reporting. Its International Academy of Arts and Sciences recognizes excellence in international programming and its affiliate, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences rewards excellence in Prime Time programming.  Local Emmys are given in 19 regions across the United States. Beyond awards, the National Academy has extensive educational programs including National Student Television and its Student Award of 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.org.