Agnes Nixon 101 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Chicago

Agnes Nixon, born Agnes Eckhardt, was born on December 10th, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents divorced when she was a little girl. It was in 1951 that she married her husband, Robert Nixon, and they had four children. Mr. Nixon passed away in 1996.

Answer: Northwestern

Nixon attended Northwestern University and was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She graduated in 1944 with a Bachelor of Science degree. Other notable alumni from Northwestern are Dermot Mulroney, Rod Blagojevich, and Mark Loretta.

Answer: Irna Phillips

Nixon got her start in writing for soaps while under the watchful eye of Irna Phillips. Phillips was best known for creating numerous radio soap operas and of the long running soap, "Guiding Light" (1937). Nixon used her experience of writing under Phillips to create her own soap operas.

At this same time, William Bell, Sr. was also being mentored by Phillips and, like Nixon, he also went on to be a soap opera writing legend.

Answer: Rachel Davis

Nixon wrote for "Another World" (1965) in the 1960s and, while head writer there, she created the character of Rachel Davis. It was said that Rachel was the prototype for Nixon's most famous character creation, Erica Kane on "All My Children" (1970). The most famous actress to portray Rachel on "Another World" was Victoria Wyndham.

Answer: False

Nixon had written the bible for "All My Children" (1970) in 1965, before she wrote one for "One Life to Live" (1968) and submitted it to ABC but they rejected it, citing that they wanted a more contemporary show. That was when she wrote the bible for "One Life to Live" and the network accepted it. With the success of "One Life to Live", ABC approached her to create a new soap so Nixon, who admitted she had placed the "AMC" bible in a drawer, got out the bible and turned it in to the network. "AMC" was born and debuted on January 5th, 1970.

Answer: Jenny Gardner

Susan Lucci, who plays Erica Kane, presented Agnes Nixon with the Editor's Choice award at the 1996 Soap Opera Digest Awards ceremony and showed a clip of many famous fans and employees of the show. Some of them were Oprah Winfrey, Executive Producer Felicia Minei Behr, and Carol Burnett. Burnett thanked Nixon for creating "AMC" (1970) but she then, in a joking manner, blasted Nixon for killing off one of her favorite characters, Jenny Gardner. Nixon laughed at how Burnett claimed she had not stopped crying for so many years and to imagine how saddened Jenny's true love, Greg Nelson, felt over her death. All kidding aside, Burnett congratulated Nixon on this prestigious win. Burnett had appeared previously on "AMC" in the mid 1980s as Langley Wallingford's long lost daughter, Verla Grubbs.

Answer: Opal Cortlandt

Nixon decided to appear on the 35th anniversary show of "AMC" (1970) and she appeared as Agnes Eckhardt, a member of The Board of Directors of Pine Valley Hospital who hired Joe to work there in 1970. While many of the characters praised Eckhardt and she talked about all she had done, Opal was seen talking to Myrtle and she mentioned, "The way she's talking you would think she built the town with her own bare hands." This was obviously in reference to Nixon creating the show and, thus, creating the town of Pine Valley.

Answer: Her husband

Nixon appeared on an episode of A&E's show, "Biography" (1962), and they did a special on behind the scenes at "AMC" (1970). Nixon talked about how ABC approached her, in 1969, on creating a new soap. She went home to talk to her husband about it and said she was not sure if she could create another show.

Her husband encouraged her to submit her bible from "AMC", which the network previously rejected, and Nixon asked him if she liked it. He told her he felt it was terrific so Nixon, per his advice, gave the bible to the network.

Answer: Phoebe Wallingford

In 2005, real life cast member Ruth Warrick, who had played Phoebe since day one, passed away, so "AMC" (1970) did a tribute for her and her character. In the tribute episode, Agnes Nixon was seen as Agnes Eckhardt at Phoebe's funeral. At the very end of the show, the characters gave a toast to Phoebe and the show flashed a picture of Ruth Warrick in her memory. Nixon also appeared on Myrtle's tribute episode in December of 2008 when Myrtle's portrayer, Eileen Herlie, passed away in October of 2008.

Answer: Aggie

"AMC" (1970) celebrated a whopping 10,000 episodes in November of 2008 and Agnes Nixon made a guest appearance. She portrayed a ghost named Aggie (she had no last name) who had written stories on the residents and she claimed that the residents would soon heal from the tornadoes that wreaked havoc on Pine Valley.

At the end of the show, the characters recited the poem that Nixon had written up when "AMC" debuted that went, "The great and the least, The rich and the poor, The weak and the strong, In joy and in sorrow, In tragedy and triumph," and then Nixon as Aggie said, "You are All My Children" and blew a kiss to the viewers.