Erica Kane | |||||||||||||||||
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All My Children character | |||||||||||||||||
Portrayed by | Susan Lucci | ||||||||||||||||
Duration | 1970–2011 | ||||||||||||||||
First appearance | January 16, 1970 | ||||||||||||||||
Last appearance | September 23, 2011 | ||||||||||||||||
Created by | Agnes Nixon | ||||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Agnes Nixon and Bud Kloss | ||||||||||||||||
Classification | Former; regular | ||||||||||||||||
Profile | |||||||||||||||||
Other names | Sheila Desiree Dubois Erica Martin Erica Brent Erica Cudahy Erica Chandler Erica Roy Erica Montgomery Erica Marick |
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Occupation |
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Residence | Seasons East Casino, Suite 1223 1100 Main Street Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, United States |
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Family | Kane |
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Parents | Eric Kane Mona Kane Tyler |
Half-brothers | Mark Dalton |
Half-sisters | Silver Kane |
Spouse |
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Children |
Kendall Hart Josh Madden Bianca Montgomery |
Grandchildren | Spike Lavery Ian Slater Miranda Montgomery Gabrielle Montgomery |
Nieces | Julie Rand Chandler (half) |
Erica Kane is a fictional character from the American ABC Daytime soap opera All My Children. The character was portrayed by actress Susan Lucci from her debut on January 16, 1970, until the last broadcast television episode on September 23, 2011. Lucci was expected to guest star on Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children in 2013, but the appearance never came to fruition due to the show's second cancellation.
Erica is considered to be the most popular character in soap opera history.TV Guide calls her "unequivocally the most famous soap opera character in the history of daytime TV," and included her in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.
Agnes Nixon created Erica Kane in the 1960s as part of the story bible for All My Children, a light-hearted soap opera focusing on social issues and young love. Nixon unsuccessfully attempted to sell the series to NBC, then to CBS, and once again to NBC through Procter & Gamble. With Procter & Gamble unable to make room for the new series in its line up, she put All My Children on hold. Nixon became head writer of Another World where she used the model of the Erica character to create a brand new character: Rachel Davis. Nixon said Rachel was Erica's "precursor to the public" but Rachel was a lower-class version. She detailed Rachel's goals as less "stratospheric" in nature since her primary motivation involved marrying Russ Mathews or a man with money while Erica wanted love, independence, and fame. "What Erica and Rachel have in common is they thought if they could get their dream, they'd be satisfied," Nixon said. "But that dream has been elusive."