Book Review: My Life To Live By Legendary Soap Opera Creator Agnes Nixon

One Life to Live (OLTL) and All My Children (AMC) creator Agnes Nixon completed the manuscript of her autobiography, My Life To Live, only a few days before she died in her sleep on September 28, 2016.

A year later, her book is available for soap opera fans and television historians alike.

In the Beginning
The first half of Nixon’s book is devoted to her childhood, her admiration of her hard-working, single mother, also named Agnes, life with her beloved Grandma Kate (sound familiar?), and her difficult relationship with her distant, demanding, and controlling father.

She based Pine Valley’s Palmer Cortlandt on him (though without the Dobermans). That should tell you everything you need to know about him.

All My Men
Nixon also devotes a great many pages to her first love and fiancé, an Air Force pilot who was killed during World War II.

Though Nixon had marched against that war, his death solidified her stance, and later led to AMC’s Amy being a vocal activist against the conflict in Vietnam.

She also details meeting and marrying her husband, Bob, the quick subsequent births of their four children — including a story of a nurse pumping her for Guiding Light spoilers as Agnes was in labor! — and Bob’s lifelong support of her writing career.

Unlucky Strokes
Nixon suffered a stroke during the writing of the book, which might explain the periodic errors.

These ranged from minor details like AMC’s…continue reading on the next page —>

Continue reading on the next page…

These ranged from minor details like AMC’s Chuck being identified as both Charles’s son and his wife Phoebe’s grandson, to the more troubling mislabeling of OLTL’s Ed, played by African-American actor Al Freeman Jr., as white and claiming his kiss with Carla (Ellen Holly), who once tried to pass as white, was the first interracial one on television.

Leave Them Wanting More
But the biggest error is that a book subtitled How I Became The Queen Of Soaps When Men Ruled The Airwaves, features so little of precisely that.

Nixon mentions creating Search For Tomorrow, then being replaced as Executive Producer before the show aired, as well as selling All My Children to CBS, only to have them renege on the deal for business reasons. But, hey, that’s showbiz!

Nixon began her career writing Guiding Light scripts under the legendary Irna Phillips, but those hoping for some…continue reading on the next page —>

Continue reading on the next page…

Nixon began her career writing Guiding Light scripts under the legendary Irna Phillips, but those hoping for some insight into the larger-than-life personality, or scoops about Nixon’s days at As the World Turns or Another World, will be left disappointed. Nixon devotes only a few paragraphs to all of the above — total.

Behind the Scenes
Nixon spends more chapters on OLTL and AMC, but she mostly covers familiar ground to anyone who has read soap opera magazines over the years.

We learn that she believes war is bad, pap smears are good, abortion should be legal, St. Croix is a beautiful vacation spot, racial prejudice has no place in society, don’t drink and drive, and parents should accept their gay children unconditionally. But, anyone who watched her shows already knew that.

Ultimately, the biggest problem with Nixon’s book is that it’s way too short. But, then again, this is the woman who counseled, “Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.”

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