She was a mainstay of the long-running soap opera for 50 years — so long that she liked to say she led a double life.Eileen Fulton, who enthralled and infuriated daytime audiences for half a century as the flashy vixen of the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns,” died on July 14 in Asheville, N.C., where she was born. She was 91.

Her brother, Charles Furman McLarty, said the cause of her death, in a hospital, was heart failure.

As a mainstay of “As the World Turns” from 1960 until it went off the air in 2010, Ms. Fulton inhabited the world of Lisa Miller (later Lisa Grimaldi) across eight marriages, dozens of love affairs and the deaths of two children. She had the role for so long that she liked to say she led a double life.

Along with her castmates Don Hastings, who also joined “As the World Turns” in 1960 and stayed until the end, and Helen Wagner, who was on the show for almost its entire 54-year run (she died a few months before it ended), Ms. Fulton was among the longest-tenured stars in the history of American daytime television.

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Ms. Fulton with Santos Ortega in an episode from early in her tenure on “As the World Turns.” Over the years her character was married eight times and had dozens of affairs.Credit…

CBS Photo Archive, via Everett Collection

The role of Lisa Miller was initially conceived as a temporary one — as a wholesome love interest for Bob Hughes, a college student played by Ronnie Welsh and later by Mr. Hastings. The opportunity to act in a soap opera represented a big break for Ms. Fulton, even though, as the headstrong daughter of a minister, she had tired of playing the nice girl.

“Sweetness and goodness had been shoved down my throat all my life,” she wrote in a memoir, “How My World Turns” (1970, written with Brett Bolto), so whenever she was given the opportunity to inject a sliver of malice, she added, “I played it to the hilt.”

Eileen Fulton, who enthralled and infuriated daytime audiences for half a century as the flashy vixen of the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns,” died on July 14 in Asheville, N.C., where she was born. She was 91.

Her brother, Charles Furman McLarty, said the cause of her death, in a hospital, was heart failure.

As a mainstay of “As the World Turns” from 1960 until it went off the air in 2010, Ms. Fulton inhabited the world of Lisa Miller (later Lisa Grimaldi) across eight marriages, dozens of love affairs and the deaths of two children. She had the role for so long that she liked to say she led a double life.

Along with her castmates Don Hastings, who also joined “As the World Turns” in 1960 and stayed until the end, and Helen Wagner, who was on the show for almost its entire 54-year run (she died a few months before it ended), Ms. Fulton was among the longest-tenured stars in the history of American daytime television.

Image

Ms. Fulton with Santos Ortega in an episode from early in her tenure on “As the World Turns.” Over the years her character was married eight times and had dozens of affairs.Credit…

CBS Photo Archive, via Everett Collection

The role of Lisa Miller was initially conceived as a temporary one — as a wholesome love interest for Bob Hughes, a college student played by Ronnie Welsh and later by Mr. Hastings. The opportunity to act in a soap opera represented a big break for Ms. Fulton, even though, as the headstrong daughter of a minister, she had tired of playing the nice girl.

“Sweetness and goodness had been shoved down my throat all my life,” she wrote in a memoir, “How My World Turns” (1970, written with Brett Bolto), so whenever she was given the opportunity to inject a sliver of malice, she added, “I played it to the hilt.”