AMC Soap Stars' Long-Lasting Marriages (The Real Ones)

The number of marriages by the cast members of "All My Children" is just astounding -- not even counting the remarriages and fake weddings. Oprah Winfrey recently had soap opera vixen, Susan Lucci on her talk show. Lucci's AMC character Erica Kane is most famous for 10 marriages on "All My Children." Oprah surprised Ms. Lucci by reuniting all Erica's husbands on stage.

The 8 actors who have played her husbands (Erica divorced and remarried two of them) are: Charles Frank (Jeff Martin); Nick Benedict (Phil Brent); Richard Schoberg (Tom Cudahy); David Canary ( Adam Chandler), Nicholas Surovy (Mike Roy), Michael Nadir (Dimitri Marick); Larkin Malloy (Travis Montgomery) and Walt Willey (Jackson Montgomery).

Erica Kane was married to Adam Chandler and Travis Montgomery twice. Her marriage to Mike Roy was annulled because she thought Adam was dead when she married Mike but Adam was just faking it to see if Erica really loved him. You can't count the "marriage" to Jeremy Hunter because it was a fake wedding staged to break him out of prison.

Unlike her character on "All My Children," Susan Lucci has been married to Helmut Huber for 41 years. Susan met Helmut around the same time that she auditioned for and got the role of Erica Kane. At the time, Helmut owned a restaurant. The happy couple have two children, Andreas and Liza.

Many other members and former members of the cast of "All My Children" have also been happily married for years:

Brooke English: The character of Phoebe Wallingford's niece was played by Julia Barr. Brooke married 4 times during her on and off again stint and was often locked in competition with Erica for the same man. She was married to Tom Cudahy (after he divorced Erica). Brooke then married Adam Chandler, another Erica ex, whom she divorced after he had a child with the nanny, Dixie Cooney (Cady McClain). Brooke took up with Dixie's man, Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight) and got pregnant by him. Tad was believed to be dead when he fell of a bridge during a fight with Billy Clyde Tuggle so Brooke kept it quiet that Tad was her baby daddy for a while. When Tad came back, he married Brooke but still truly loved Dixie so they eventually divorced. Brooke then married Edmund Grey (John Callahan) but that got annulled. Brooke eventually left Pine Valley with ex-husband, Adam Chandler.

In real life, Julia Barr has been happily married to Dr. Richard Hirschlag , an oral surgeon, for 29 years.

Adam Chandler, played by David Canary, has married as many times as Erica Kane and twice to her. His first wife's name was Althea. Erica was his second wife. His marriages to Brooke English, Dixie Cooney and Natalie Marlowe were all annulled. He renewed his vows with Erica, but then married Gloria Marsha after they divorced. He married Liza Colby three times but had one marriage and divorce with Arlene Vaughan in between the last two times. Krystal Carey and Annie Novak were his last two wives and he then went off with his third wife, Brooke English.

In real life, David has been happily married to Maureen Maloney for 29 years

Billy Clyde Tuggle, Pine Valley pimp and bad boy, was portrayed by Matthew Cowles. Billy Clyde never got married on the show, although he did want to get Dixie away from Tad Martin and marry her, so he kidnapped her. That didn't work out and he got in a big fight on the bridge with Tad. Unlike Tad, who was only presumed dead, Billy Clyde really did die since they found his body (but you never know for sure on the soaps!).

In real life, Matthew Cowles has been married to actress, Christine Baranski, for 28 years. They met on the show when she had a small part.

Jackson Montgomery, Walt Willey's character, has pretty much always been in love with Erica Kane, even when she was married to his brother, Travis. Jackson still married Laurel Banning first. Later, he and Erica were married for a couple of years.

In real life, Walt Willey and his wife, Marie have been married for 17 years.

Actress, Sydney Penny who was little Meggie Cleary in "The Thorn Birds" as a child, had a recurring role as Julia Santos on AMC over a 15-year period until her character died in 2008. She had several flings and affairs on the show and one marriage to Noah Keefer, who was shot and killed in 2005.

In real life, Sydney has been married to producer and artist, Robert Powers for 16 years.

Here's wishing a very Happy Valentine's Day to these couples and many more years of marital bliss.

Sources:
Soap Opera Central: Who's Who in AMC
Fikkle Fame: All Erica's Husbands on Oprah