Ann Flood (born Maryanne Elizabeth Ott; November 12, 1932 – October 7, 2022) was an American actress, best known for her role as journalist and author Nancy Pollock Karr in the soap opera The Edge of Night, a role she began in 1962. Flood portrayed the show's heroine for 22 years, witnessing the show's transition from live to taped broadcasts and its move from CBS to ABC.
Early years
Flood was born in Jamaica, Queens, New York, She graduated from Bay Shore High School with a scholarship in merchandising and buying to a junior college in New England, She said that changing her name for acting was "purely psychological. Maryanne Ott is not as euphonious as Ann Flood."
Career
Flood had notable roles on Broadway, making her debut in the 1954 musical Kismet, Her television debut came earlier, in a 1952 live production of the W. S. Gilbert play, The Fortune Hunter, for WOR-TV.
Flood became a regular performer on golden age live TV shows, including Sergeant Bilko, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Kraft Theatre, and The Philco Television Playhouse.
For her work on the show, Flood was twice nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, in 1982 and 1984.
After Edge of Night, Flood continued to act in daytime dramas. She was cast in a succession of shorter-term and recurring roles, playing Ella Hobbs, a villain on Search for Tomorrow, who tried to kill the show's leading character, Joanne, and played a variety of society matrons on Another World (Rose Livingston, 1986–1987), One Life to Live (Mrs. Guthrie, 1991), and As the World Turns, recurring from 1992 to 1993 as business executive Ruth Mansfield. In 1987, she joined the cast of All My Children playing the recurring role of Bitsy Davidson, Cecily's snooty mother, and was briefly under contract to the show. Her last appearance aired in January 1990. and a role in the 1988 feature film, Mystic Pizza.