As the World Turns Characters

As the World Turns characters live in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois. The town’s families have a variety of professional occupations from doctor to lawyer to police officer and corporate moguls.

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Actress Helen Wagner plays the longest running As the World Turns characters Nancy Hughes. She also shares the distinction of playing the longest running character in television. She began her tenure as Nancy on April 2, 1956 and although she left the show briefly and has been dropped to recurring status once in the early 80s, she’s played Nancy Hughes for more than 50 years.

The Hughes family has been in Oakdale since the show began and remains one of the longest running families on daytime television. Nancy and her husband Chris raised four children including Bob, Susan, Donald and Penny. Of her four children, only Susan is deceased. She died before the show aired in a swimming pool accident.

Of the Hughes children, Bob remained the most active on the show over the decades. Bob Hughes has been played by Don Hastings since 1960. He’s been married five times and his most recent marriage is to Kim with whom he shares two children, Christopher and Sabrina. From his previous marriages, he has his son Tom (marriage to Lisa) and Frannie (marriage to Jennifer). Frannie and Sabrina were both portrayed by Oscar winner Julianne Moore when they were introduced in the mid-80s.

Bob’s son Tom Hughes has been portrayed by 13 different actors since his introduction in 1963. Tom is married to Margo and they share two children Adam (adopted) and Casey. Tom also has a daughter Lien from a liaison during the Vietnam War and son Daniel from an affair with Emily Stewart.

For more than five decades the loves, losses, successes and tragedies of the Hughes family have kept viewers turning in.

Helen Wagner as Nancy Hughes

While the Hughes family is comprised of professionals (doctors, lawyers, police officers), the Snyders are a salt of the earth family with a complicated history. Emma and Harvey Snyder lived on their farm in Luther’s Corner just outside of Oakdale.

Together they have six children: Seth, Iva, Ellie, Caleb, Holden and Meg. Their children have been involved in numerous relationships, the most complicated of which involved Iva, Holden and their cousin Josh. Josh was adopted by Harvey’s brother Henry. Iva was adopted by Harvey and Emma. One summer when they were 13, Josh raped Iva leading to the birth of Lily and Rose.

Iva gave Lily up for adoption and she never knew about Rose who was also put up for a separate adoption. When Holden Snyder became romantically involved with Lily Walsh, the tangled family trees and series of adoptions came to light. This allowed Holden to marry his ‘niece’ and avoid the incest problems.

Holden’s older brother Seth married Angel Lange (who previous was involved with both his brothers) and his older brother Caleb married Julie Wendell (who shares a son Aaron with Holden). His sister Ellie was briefly married to Kirk Anderson and his youngest sister Meg has been married to Josh (Lily’s father and adopted Snyder cousin), Tonio Reyes, Craig Montgomery and Paul Ryan.

Holden shares three children with Lily: Faith, Natalie and Ethan. He adopted Lily’s son Luke (from her marriage to Damian Grimaldi) and also shares children from his previous relationships including Abigail (from his high school sweetheart Molly) and Aaron (from his affair with Julie Wendell). In 2007, Holden and Lily divorced and Holden became involved with Carly Tenney Snyder (his cousin Jack’s ex-wife).

The Snyder family is large and requires a very broad family tree to understand the complex relationships that tie them together.

Mary Ellen Walters changed her name to Lucinda Walsh after marrying James Evan Walsh. She is the head of Walsh enterprises. She has three children: Sierra, Bianca and Lily. Sierra is her biological daughter from her marriage to Jacobo Esteban, the now deceased ruler of the fictional island Montega. She has been involved in the islands affairs on and off over the years, including rescuing her daughter who worked with the Montegan resistance.

She adopted daughter Lily during her marriage to James Walsh and adopted Montegan refugee Bianca as a teenager in order to give her a better life and opportunities in the United States. Lucinda’s a powerful woman who enjoys relationships with powerful men including marriages to Dr. John Dixon and town villain James Stenbeck. Over the years she’s also struggled with her previous life as Mary Ellen Walters when her biological brother and sister came to town. She also briefly lost Walsh Enterprises to James and Connor Walsh, the grandchildren of her former husband James Walsh.

Oakdale is populated by many other families including the Munsons, the Stewarts and the Ryans. Each of these families is tied to the Snyders, Hughes and Walshes via marriage, adoption, affairs and children.

The professional and personal lives of Oakdale’s citizens keep them tangled together in the boardrooms, the bedrooms and even the haylofts. As the World Turns airs on CBS daytime.

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