Susan Lucci got the recognition she deserves for her decades-long career when the actress was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards on Friday.
The award was presented by Shemar Moore, who also awarded Lucca her first Daytime Emmy in 1999 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series — a win that followed 19 separate nominations since 1978.
“She’s been in TV series as well as film and stage … she’s ranked as one of the 50 greatest television stars of all time and I couldn’t agree more,” Moore, 53, said as he listed her accolades, including the lead role of Erica Kane in the ABC daytime drama All My Children almost 40 years.
Moore also called Lucci “a true living TV legend” and joked that the last time he presented the actress with an award, “I flipped the card and didn’t think she was going to win…and I said, ‘The streak is over!'”
After Moore’s introduction, a video package of Lucia’s film and television credits appeared, followed by personalized messages from her loved ones, including her son Andreas, All My Children students Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos and Carol Burnett and friend Andy Cohen.
Taking the stage, Lucci, 76, thanked everyone in the room and said: “How lucky am I to dream my dreams of becoming an actress and growing up and making my dreams come true? There have been hurdles and hurdles along the way – there have been wannabe hurdles and roadblocks — but tonight is a night to celebrate.”
Susan Lucci attends the 50th Daytime Emmy Awards at The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, Los Angeles on December 15, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Frazer Harrison/Getty
Lucci recalled Moore announcing her Emmy win earlier and said she “started by thanking God for many blessings,” at the time, “and tonight I’m starting again, starting with my parents for their love.”
“I thank them for the example they set for me … for telling me that I can shoot for the moon and the stars and never be afraid,” she said, before thanking her teachers for “giving me the tools to be the actress that I am I wanted to be”, i All My Children creator Agnes Nixon.
“She was a pioneer, a visionary storyteller who gave me a slice of life, an incredibly flawed Erica Kane,” Lucci said, calling her character “the meanest girl in town … she had spirit.”
“I’m eternally grateful to the fans for loving Erica Kane, even when she wasn’t so lovable,” she continued. “Thanks to them, I have to keep playing her over and over again.”
Lucci also thanked her colleague All My Children colleagues, calling them “the most successful and talented actors in New York.”
“I’m so proud to be a part of this community, this community of storytellers, in such a shared genre,” she said. “We can do what we love, we can have fun and tell stories, and in doing so we illuminate our human condition… and on our best days, we even create a little magic.”
In her final message, Lucci thanked her son Andreas and her late husband Helmut Huber, who died in March 2022 at the age of 84.
“The icing on the cake tonight is that my son Andreas is with me. It means a lot to me that you are here with me,” she said. “I feel your father’s presence here with us tonight as well. I thank my husband Helmet Huber because he has everything for me to stand here tonight and receive this incredible award.”
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Susan Lucci (center) with son Andreas Huber (left) and husband Helmut Huber in 2013 Desiree Navarro/WireImage Shemar Moore to present Susan Lucci with the Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award (Exclusive)
Lucci got a big break in the role of Erica Kane All My Children in 1970 and played the role for 41 years until the series ended in 2011. She had many memorable moments on the show and eventually earned 21 Daytime Emmy Award nominations for her iconic role.
Above All my children, the actress found time to explore other projects, starring in a Broadway production in 1999 Annie Get your gun and had solo performances in theaters and cabarets throughout the country.
On television, Lucci received recurring roles in series such as Hot in Cleveland, Dallas, Army Wives and Sneaky maids. In 2008, she competed in the 7th season Dancing with the stars with partner Tony Dovolani, finishing sixth.
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Susan Lucci on ‘All My Children’ 2010
Carol Kaelson/Disney General Entertainment via Getty
The actress is also a The New York Times bestselling author after publishing her autobiography, My whole life2011, and has championed several charities throughout her life, including United Cerebral Palsy of NYC, the National AFib Campaign, the March of Dimes, the New York Cancer Project, the American Stroke Association, and the American Heart Association, of which she currently serves as a national ambassador. of the Go Red for Women movement.
On a personal level, Lucci shares Andreas and daughter Liza with Huber. The two were married in 1969.
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Alumantica ‘All My Children’ Susan Lucci with Charles Frank 1971.
ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty
Lucci’s award comes months after she recovered from her second heart surgery in four years.
“I’m doing really well. I’m always looking out for myself, what’s going on,” Lucci told PEOPLE in March, adding, “So far so good.”
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The 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards air live on CBS and Paramount+.
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