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Erica Kane
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- "Erica Kane" is also the title of songs by Aaliyah, B5 and Urge Overkill, all written about this character.
Erica Kane is a long-running fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. Along with Dr. Joe Martin and his wife Ruth Martin, she is one of three original characters remaining since the series' premiere episode. The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show's first episode on January 5, 1970.
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Encyclopedia
- "Erica Kane" is also the title of songs by Aaliyah, B5 and Urge Overkill, all written about this character.
Erica Kane is a long-running fictional character from the American daytime drama All My Children. Along with Dr. Joe Martin and his wife Ruth Martin, she is one of three original characters remaining since the series' premiere episode. The character has been portrayed by actress Susan Lucci since the show's first episode on January 5, 1970. 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". Actress Susan Lucci has said that she considers Erica the greatest role ever written for a woman.
Character creation
Background
Erica Kane was created in the 1960s as a part of Agnes Nixon's story bible for All My Children. Nixon unsuccessfully attempted to sell the series to NBC, then to CBS, and once again to NBC through Procter & Gamble. Since Procter & Gamble could not make room for the new soap in it's line up, All My Children was put on hold. Nixon became head writer of Another World where she used the model of the Erica character to create a brand new character named Rachel Davis. Nixon said Rachel was Erica's "precursor to the public" but Rachel was a lower-class version of her and her goal's were less "stratospheric" in nature than Erica's. Rachel's primary goal was in 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."
After One Life to Live, a series Nixon created in 1968, was a success on ABC, that network asked her to create another soap oper for them. She used the story bible for All My Children to create the new program. The Erica character makes her official on-air debut in 1970 once All My Children makes it onto the air.
Casting
In 1969, Susan Lucci responded to a casting call for All My Children. After a meeting with a casting director, she was told they would call her back in six months. She was one of hundreds of people they called back in. Lucci progressed on from each reading of the part until she was cast in the role. "I saw the audition tapes, and she just stood out," said Agnes Nixon. "There was never a question, ever." Before being cast as Erica Kane, Lucci did not have much success in her acting career. A casting director discouraged her from attempting to be on television because her hair, skin, and eyes were too dark. Though Lucci's olive complexion held her back from other acting opportunities, it worked in her favor when she was going for the role of Erica. "Agnes Nixon, the show's creator, really wanted somebody dark to play this part. She has always been ahead of her time," Lucci said. Lucci debuted in Episode 10 of the series.
Archetypes
Over the years Erica has been developed into different character archetypes. Soap Opera's once feature only one-dimensional characters who were either good or bad. By the 1970s characters were written with more depth, fitting into archetypes consisting of the young-and-vulnerable romantic heroine, the old-fashioned villain, the rival, the suffering antagonist, Mr. Right, the former playboy, the meddlesome and villainous mother/grandmother, the benevolent mother/grandmother, and the career woman. Erica was established as the rival to Tara Martin's young-and-vulnerable romantic heroine. As the rival, Erica was written as money and status conscious as well as sexually aggressive. Erica was generally positioned as the antagonist keeping true love pairings, such as Tara and Phillip Brent, apart.
By the late 1970s, a different set of character types were established, including the chic suburbanite, the subtle single, the traditional family person, the successful professional, and the elegant socialite. Erica was in the chic suburbanite cataloger which was comprised of "flashy", achievement-oriented characters who had little interest in family and friends. Like others in this category, Erica was written as "flamboyant", "frivolous and carefree, with little commitment other than their own selfish enjoyment of life."
Overall, Erica is the embodiment of "the bitch goddess", a soap opera archetype that "transformed and defined" the soap opera genre. The archetype was created by Irna Phillips, Nixon, and William J. Bell in the 1960s and became one of their defining legacies. The archetype is an assertive Cinderella who goes after material things. This was a change from the heroines of the radio soap opera's who waited to be rescued by men. As the bitch goddess, Erica started out as "a conniving teenage vixen" and transformed into "the femme fatale incarnate." The characters in this category are outrageous, exaggerated, and financially disadvantaged and determined to change that. Other characters in this archetype are Lisa Miller (As the World Turns) and Rachel Davis (Another World).
Character development
Characteristics?
Erica starts out in 1970 as a headstrong and selfish fifteen year old. Viewers consider her the "quintessential vixen of fiction." Though she was designed as one of the bad characters, she was not intended to be evil or menacing. All My Children was created as a "light hearted" soap opera. As such, the series's villains, Erica included, were meant to be more fun and funny, than wicked. Over time she evolved into a "heroine-vixen" who was still feisty and did bad things, but was also a character the audience rooted for. She is characterized as the "naughty girl in town". From the start, her motivations stem from her relationship with her father. Her abandonment by him led her to be written as sexually aggressive with men. She has a need to be loved by men to prove she is not unlovable.
One of Erica's defining feature's is her extreme self-centered point of view. She is also written as ambitious and independent, with the ability to "play coquette and power broker with equal ease. Erica is described as "imaginative, adventurous, and brilliant", yet is written in such a way that she appears "scarcely rational enough to cope with adulthood." Despite this, the character represents independence and power. She was shown as always being in charge in business whether she was with a man or not. Some of the jobs she is given during her storylines include a high fashion model, a cosmetics tycoon, and a magazine publisher.
Family
When All My Children debut's, the Kane family consists of Erica, her mother, Mona (Frances Heflin), and her absent father, the film director Eric Kane. Mona spoils Erica to fill the void left Eric left behind. Despite this, the relationship between Mona and Erica is scripted as tumultuous as Mona often disapproves of Erica's antics and Erica blames Mona for her father's desertion. The relationship is later developed into a strong bond. After Mona's death in 1994, the character is used as a God-like figure Erica looks to for guidance.
From the start of the series, the driving force behind Erica's actions is her lack of a relationship with her father. She is an example of the Nixon staple of the "lost daddy's girl". He abandoned her and her mother when Erica was nine years old. As a result, she has a severe abandonment complex. Since Eric leaves his family for a successful career in Hollywood, Erica also longs for a life of fame and a successful man. This motivation is maintained in the character decades into the series. In 1989, the Eric Kane character makes his first onscreen appearance as Erica goes in search of him and finds him working at a circus as a clown. Erica attempts to help him out of his current circumstances but he ends up betraying her and leaving Pine Valley. In the early 1990s, Eric's further mistreatment of his daughter is shown in the revelation that, a year before All My Children begins, when Erica is fourteen, Eric's friend Richard Fields raped her. Originally, the story is scripted as Eric allowing the film star Richard Fields, who has a crush on Erica, to be alone with her and doing nothing to prevent the rape from occurring. During Erica's intervention in 2004, the story is reworked so that Eric is responsible for the rape. In the new version of the story, Eric convinces Richard Fields to star in one of his movies by arranging for him to have sex with his fourteen year old daughter. The memories of the rape and the child produced by it are repressed until Kendall Hart (Sarah Michelle Gellar), the product of the rape, is introduced into the storyline.
Kendall Hart's first appearance is in 1993. In the beginning of the character's tenure, she is written to be sixteen years old. This caused an outcry from viewers of the series since Erica's age at the time of the rape combined with Kendall's age did not make sense within the All My Children timeline and would make Erica too young. The writers attempted to rectify this by aging Kendall to 23 years old and scripting the character to repeatedly mention her new age, emphasizing the change. The mother and daughter relationship between Kendall and Erica was designed to be antagonistic. She creates conflict in Erica's relationship with her current love interest Dimitri Marick because of her obsession with him. She also brings Richard Fields to town to torment her mother. Kendall leaves town in 1995 and returns years later in 2002 with a new actress, Alicia Minshew, in the role. The later story between Erica and Kendall was written to display each character's point of view as they both deal with the ramifications of what Kendall's conception has done to them, which Lucci praised. A reconciliation is later written for the characters where they bond as mother and daughter.
In 1973, the same year as the Roe v. Wade ruling, Erica aborts the baby she conceives with her first husband, Jeff Martin. This is the first legal abortion aired on television. The writers had Erica develop a potentially fatal infection after having the abortion. The switch-boards at ABC lit up with calls from doctors and nurses, offering their medical opinions on how best to treat the character's case. The controversy did not hurt ratings in the end, which rose from 8.2 to 9.1. "Erica's abortion was simply because she didn't want to have a child, and I think if you do that now, you would perhaps hurt your character," said former All My Children head writer Megan McTavish. This abortion is later brought up as a plot point again years later when McTavish rewrites the story so that the doctor who performs the procedure, Greg Madden (Ian Buchanan), transplants the aborted fetus into his infertile wife. The child, Josh Madden (Colin Egglesfield), is raised as their son without Erica's knowledge. Greg also harbored an obsession with Erica which motivated him in choosing her for the transplant in the first place. Greg and Josh make their first onscreen appearances in 2005. In the story, Greg's wife recently died and Greg moves to Pine Valley in order to be near Erica under the guise of opening a clinic. Josh follows him soon and, not knowing she is his mother, attempts to destroy Erica in order to steal her fame for himself. Erica discovers the truth and is eventually able to form a relationship with him. In 2009, Egglesfield is let go and his character is declared brain dead after being shot by Zach Slater. Erica is then forced to decide whether or not to donate his heart to Kendall, who is dying. "The first thought that came to my mind when I was told the storyline and read the script was Sophie's Choice," said Lucci. Erica reluctantly agrees to the transplant. Lucci said she believed this decision would "haunt" Erica because if Kendall's life was not int he balance, she would have put more effort into saving Josh.
Erica is given her youngest child, Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel), in 1988. At that time in the series, Bianca is Erica's first and only child since the Kendall and Josh characters were not created yet. In the storyline Erica becomes pregnant with Travis Montgomery's child and develops toxemia. The story was written to inform and educate the audience on the details of the condition. Erica overcomes the medical difficulties and gives birth to Bianca. As she grows up, Erica sees her through Reye's syndrome and anorexia nervos. In 2000, Bianca's age is rewritten to make the character a teenager and Eden Riegel is cast in the role. Bianca comes out as a lesbian to her mother. Erica has trouble accepting the revelation, but eventually does.
Erica was given four grandchildren: Miranda Montgomery (born March 24, 2004), Miranda is Bianca's daughter with Michael Cambias through rape. Miranda was switched at birth and raised for almost a year as Elizabeth "Bess" Chandler by Adam "JR" Chandler and his on/off wife, Arabella "Babe" Carey. The child was thought to have died in a helicopter accident. Miranda currently lives in Paris with her mother, and is the eldest of Erica's grandchildren. Spike Lavery (born May 31, 2006) is Kendall's son with Ryan Lavery through artificial insemination. Spike was supposed to have been Ryan's child with his then-wife Greenlee Smythe. Ryan was presumed dead and as there was a power outage at the time she was to be inseminated, Kendall was forced to use her own egg. Greenlee kidnapped Spike while Kendall was in labor with her second child. Greenlee was then involved in a car accident which was believed to have left Spike deaf, although it was later discovered that his deafness was inevitable. Ian Slater (born July 26, 2007) is the first child of Kendall and husband Zach. Ian was born three and a half months early and has a hole in his heart. He is the second grandson of Erica. Gabrielle Montgomery (born October 21, 2008) is Bianca's child with girlfriend Reese Williams; Zach is the child's biological father through sperm donation. She was delivered seven weeks early by Zach during the 2008 tornadoes.
Erica's other relatives include a half-brother, Mark Dalton (portrayed by Mark LaMura). In 1977, the series had Mark and Erica begin a romance of sorts, which led Mona to divulge the secret that they both shared the same father: Eric Kane. Erica's father had an affair with his secretary, Maureen Dalton, while working in Hollywood. In 1982, while working in New York City as a model, Erica discovered she had a half-sister named Silver. Unlike Mark, Silver was the product of a secret marriage Eric Kane had with a woman named Goldie. Tad Martin later exposed Silver as an impostor named Connie, but the real Silver showed up soon after, only to be killed later on.
Marriages and relationships
The character has been married numerous times to multiple men. Seven of her marriages to six different men have been valid while four of her other marriages are invalid. Generally, the number of times Erica has been married is named as ten, though the total of her valid and invalid marriages, plus her 1991 vow renewal with Adam Chandler, would come up to twelve. Along with the marriages, the character is also given a number of other love interests. These romances are motivated by the character's need to fill the void her father left when he abandoned her.
As the series begins, Erica's romantic role is as the rival keeping the "true love" pairings apart. The first story she is used this way in is the teenage love quadrangle between Erica, Phillip Brent, Tara Martin, and Chuck Tyler. In that story, Erica is used as one of the devices separating Tara and Phil. She breaks them up in 1970, but does not get him for herself until years later. Other couples she is used as a roadblock for are Jeff Martin and Mary Kennicott, Linc Tyler and Kitty Shae, and Chuck Tyler and Donna Beck.
Erica's first two marriages, first to Jeff Martin in 1971 and then to Phil Brent in 1975, are unsuccessful because both men want her to be a housewife instead of a career woman. Also, Erica is more interested in marrying them to spite Tara. Lucci described Jeff as a "trophy" and gaining Phil as "a matter of pride for Erica." The marriage to Jeff ends when she leaves him for her modeling manager, Jason Maxwell, who is killed in self defense by her mother, Mona. Erica and Phil marry to give the baby they conceived a name. In the 1970s, pregnancy on a soap opera was romanticized so it was more influenced by the emotions and actions of the characters than by modern medicine. Since Phil and Erica do no conceive their baby for love, they are "rewarded" with a miscarriage, which was typical of loveless unions in that time. In her marriage to Phil, he wants a divorce after their baby is stillborn. Though she is more interested in pursuing richer men like Linc Tyler, she refuses to let him go because she does not want Tara to have him. Erica agrees to divorce Phil after his father, Nick Davis, offers her a job as a hostess at his restaurant, the Chateau, in exchange for letting his son go. Erica and Nick develop a romance. The relationship is written as antagonistic yet loving. It is the first time Erica meets her match in a man. Erica sees Nick as both a father figure and a lover. Though he loves her, he will not marry her, which infuriates Erica. She begins a romance with Tom Cudahay in the hopes of making Nick jealous. Though it works, Nick does not act on his jealousy and instead moves to Chicago. On Erica and Tom's wedding day she hopes he will come back to interrupt the ceremony, but he does not.
Tom and Erica's honeymoon is shot on location in St. Croix. This is the first daytime location shoot filmed outside of the United States. The stumbling blocks designed for this marriage are the same as her last two since Erica puts her modeling career ahead of starting a family with Tom. They divorce after he discovers she is using birth control pills. In 1983, the writers had her flee Pine Valley for the Hollywood Hills, posing as a nun. She does this because her former lover, Kent Bogard, is killed in a struggle with a gun. Erica commits no crime, but her jealous "half-sister" (actually Connie) accuses her of murder. The legal difficulties are later cleared up and she returns to Pine Valley. Erica next becomes involved with Mike Roy, the man writing her biography, Raising Kane. "He was Erica's first great love", Lucci said. "They were very different. He was very intellectual and she was not, and still he loved her for who she was." Mike was written as the love of her life for years. During that time, Mike and Erica fall in love and are kept apart by Adam Chandler (David Canary), the man who is producing a film adaptation of Raising Kane. Adam has Mike sent away to Tibet to separate him and Erica. While Mike is away, Adam offers Erica the lead role in the movie if she marries him. She agrees and they marry in 1984, but Adam casts another actress in the role. After Mike returns, Adam tests Erica's feelings for him by faking his death. She responds to his supposed demise by marrying Mike. Adam reveals he is alive, making their marriage null and void, and forces Erica to choose between him and Mike. She chooses Mike. They plan to marry but before they can he is shot. On his deathbed, he and Erica exchange vows.
Erica's next love interest is Jeremy Hunter (Jean Leclerc). The Jeremy Hunter character was created as a polar opposite of Erica, in part, because he has sworn a vow of celibacy and she is extremely sexual. He is described as "caring, creative, vulnerable, nurturing, patient, and tender." The maternal nature of the character was balanced by his physical and public power. Their relationship was written to reflect a form of protective dominance. Within the storyline, from the summer of 1985 to the summer of 1986 Jeremy rescues her from Adam, his father, and Latin American terrorists, all of whom kidnap and attempt to sexually assault Erica. He also saves her from Natalie Marlow who holds her at gun point. The relationship does not go both ways as they break up when Erica attempts to rescue him. In the story, Jeremy is in prison for a crime he did not commit, so Erica stages a wedding ceremony in prison as a way to break him out by escaping on a helicopter from the roof. Jeremy refuses to let her help him escape, ending their relationship.
The politician Travis Montgomery (Larkin Malloy) is Erica's next love interest. Erica and Travis are portrayed as sexually equal and are infused with elements of romance and fantasy. Erica becomes pregnant with his baby but does not tell him for fear that it will disrupt his political career. In 1988, when Travis finds out, they get married. She becomes attracted to his brother, Jackson Montgomery (Walt Willey), but does not act on the feeling until after she and Travis divorce. They have "a very hot romance" and fall in love, but Erica remarries Travis in 1990 at their daughter Bianca's insistence. This is one of the are moments when Erica puts someone else's wants ahead of her own. Travis and Erica's second marriage is not a happy one. "I think after they got back together," said Lucci, "it was never the same again. There was always this rift. He became bitter and sort of cruel to Erica." Their second marriage ends after Travis catches her cheating on him with Jack. During the custody hearing over Bianca, Jack refuses to lie about their affair, resulting in Erica losing custody of her daughter.
In 1991, Adam reveals to Erica that they are still married. He blackmails her into staging another wedding ceremony and living with him as his wife. During this marriage, she meets and falls in love with Dimitri Marick (Michael Nader). She fights her feelings for him while he pursues her despite their marriages to other people. Adam eventually grants Erica a divorce. Erica and Dimitri carry on a long relationship involving two failed marriages and a miscarriage. The pairing was imbued with fairytale elements that were reflected in the wardrobe designs for Erica's wedding dresses. Dimitri was scripted as Erica's soulmate and the love of her life,, replacing Mike Roy. Once Erica and Dimitri separate for a final time, Erica reunites with Jackson. They become engaged right before Mike Roy is revealed to be alive. Erica is torn between them. Though she chooses Jack, she and Mike have sex one last time before he leaves Pine Valley. Jack finds out and breaks things off with her.
In 1999, Erica is in a car accident with David Hayward (Vincent Irizarry) which leaves her face disfigured. This storyline unintentionally mirrored a similar car accident Luci was involved in, in 1964 which almost permanently scared her face. Like Erica, she needed plastic surgery to heal her face. In the storyline, Erica and David fall in love while he helps her through her recovery. The obstacles designed to come between them are her continued feelings for Dimitri and his inability to fully give himself to a woman because of what happened to his father when he loved his mother too much. They become engaged to be married but Erica calls it off. Her next love interest is Chris Stamp. "I really thing that she found someone very special in Chris Stamp," Lucci said. "They are a pretty hot combination, and he seems strong and capable enough of being with her." In the story, after becoming engaged to Chris, Erica cheats on him with Jack and Chris is killed. She and Jack marry in 2005. They form a family unit including all of their combined children. The union does not last, as they grow apart and Erica cheats on him with Jeff Martin. Her next love interest is Samuel Woods (Mario Van Peebles). The story the characters are written into is based on the Martha Stewart's insider trading scandal. Erica buys Chandler Enterprises stock based on privileged information Adam Chandler shares with her and U.S. Attorney, Sam Woods has charges brought up against her. They develop an attraction while he prosecutes her and she goes to prison for the crime. The relationship goes no further than dating before Sam leaves Pine Valley to campaign for a seat on the Senate.
When Charles Pratt, Jr. took over as head writer of All My Children, he had different plans for the way the Erica character would be written, including where her love life was concerned. "The romance, after romance, after romance, I just don't think it's been working," said Pratt. Instead of writing Erica into another love story he decided to have her focus on business along with a complicated relationship with her former husband, Adam Chandler. He designed the Erica and Adam relationship to be a rivalry, friendship, and partnership, while leaving the option open to turn it into a romance later. "I think the audience has loved- and I know I have- the fencing that goes on with them", Pratt said. "How far we progress that, or whether it turns into something bigger than that, we're still wading through it."
Cultural impact
Because of her many marriages, Erica has the longest name for a television character:
Erica Kane Martin Brent Cudahy Chandler Roy Roy Montgomery Montgomery Chandler Marick Marick Montgomery.
In a sketch on Saturday Night Live, Erica Kane was a contestant on the fictional game show "Game Breakers". She seduced fictional game show host Jack Morgan (portrayed by Phil Hartman), thus enabling her to soundly beat her opponent. Morgan came close to marrying Kane (in a ceremony presided over by Don Pardo), but the wedding was interrupted by real-life game show host (and "current husband") Gene Rayburn. The sketch ended with Kane being mauled by a panther owned by Siegfried and Roy (portrayed by Kevin Nealon and Dana Carvey).
Erica also popularized the catchphrase "I am Erica Kane!", said whenever Erica was afraid, challenged, or threatened.
Because of the drama that she causes, the late musical artist Aaliyah recorded a song about it called "Erica Kane."
Band B5 also made a song called "Erica Kane". The song talks about how they're in a relationship with a beautiful girl, but she is crazy.
Alternative rock band Urge Overkill titled a song after the character on their album Saturation.
Rapper Lil' Kim at times refers to herself as "the black Erica Kane."
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