Erica Kane<!-- NOTE: The married names are in the infobox. --> is a fictional character from the American ABC Daytime soap opera All My Children. The character was portrayed by actress Susan Lucci from her debut on January 16, 1970, until the last broadcast television episode on September 23, 2011. Lucci was expected to guest star on Prospect Park's continuation of All My Children in 2013, but the appearance never came to fruition due to the show's second cancellation.
Erica is considered to be the most popular character in American soap opera history. TV Guide calls her "unequivocally the most famous soap opera character in the history of daytime TV," and included her in their 2013 list of The 60 Nastiest Villains of All Time.
Character creation
Background
Agnes Nixon created Erica Kane in the 1960s as part of the story bible for All My Children, a light-hearted soap opera focusing on social issues and young love. Nixon unsuccessfully attempted to sell the series to NBC, then to CBS, and once again to NBC through Procter & Gamble. With Procter & Gamble unable to make room for the new series in its line up, she put All My Children on hold. Nixon became head writer of Another World where she used the model of the Erica character to create a brand new character: Rachel Davis. Nixon said Rachel was Erica's "precursor to the public." She detailed Rachel's goals as less "stratospheric" in nature since her primary motivation involved marrying Dr. 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 the success of One Life to Live, a series Nixon created in 1968, ABC asked her to create another soap opera for them. She used the story bible for All My Children to create the new program. The Erica character officially debuted in 1970 once All My Children made it onto the air.
In 1969, Susan Lucci responded to a casting call for All My Children. She initially auditioned for the role of Tara Martin. The "character that we were all interested in was not Erica, but Tara," said Doris Quinlan, the show's former executive producer. "She was the sweet young ingenue — the one with all the problems that everyone was supposed to care about... I certainly couldn't cast [Lucci] as a young, innocent, sweet little Irish girl. That's not what comes out. She's much more sophisticated – at least she gives that appearance. She was perfect to play Erica."
Before being cast as Erica Kane, Lucci did not have much success in her acting career. A casting director discouraged her from pursuing roles 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 while up 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. 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. Like others in this category, Erica was written as "flamboyant, frivolous and carefree, with little commitment other than [her] 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. Irna Phillips, Nixon, and William J. Bell created the archetype in the 1960s and it became one of their defining legacies.
Erica is a headstrong and selfish 15-year-old when All My Children begun in 1970. Although Nixon designed her as one of the bad characters, she was not intended to come off as evil or menacing. Since Nixon created All My Children as a "light hearted" soap opera, the series' villains, Erica included, came across as more fun and funny, than wicked. Over time, Erica evolved into a "heroine-vixen" who still did bad things, but was also a character the audience rooted for. Former associate producer Felicia Minei Behr said, "The Erica that [Lucci] started with, was a kid who was one-dimensional, who was the rotten seed, and she turned her into a very fascinating character- the character that everybody loves to hate." Characterized as the "naughty girl in town" from the start, Erica is described as "imaginative, adventurous, and brilliant", yet writers detailed her as appearing "scarcely rational enough to cope with adulthood." Despite this, the character represents independence and power. She always controls her business whether involved with a man or not. Some of the jobs she has been given during her storylines include a high fashion model, a cosmetics tycoon, and a magazine publisher.
Family
When All My Children debuts, the Kane family consists of Erica, her mother, Mona (Frances Heflin), and her absent father, film director Eric Kane (Albert Stratton). Mona spoils Erica to fill the void Eric left behind. Despite this, the writers scripted the relationship between Mona and Erica as tumultuous, with Mona disapproving of Erica's behavior and Erica blaming Mona for her father's desertion. The relationship is later developed into a strong bond. The writers layered their interactions with "raw edges" and humor. "Erica idealized her father. Heflin said. Whenever Eric disappoints Erica, she blames her mother. "Then, of course, would come the moment of breakdown when she would cry on [Mona's] shoulder," Helfin said. "So it's more or less human. Really, more human and less saccharine than most of the mother/children relationships on soaps. It has an awful lot of bit in it." Eric abandons her and her mother before the start of the show, when Erica is nine years old. Erica represses all memory of the rape until 16-year-old Kendall, a child conceived by it and revealed to be Erica's first born daughter she gave up for adoption to the Harts, appears in 1993. Viewer reaction to the discrepancy created by Erica's having a 16-year-old daughter conceived in a 24-year-old rape prompted the series to immediately adjust Kendall's age to 23. The mother-daughter relationship between Erica and Kendall was designed as antagonistic and complex, with Kendall, unaware of the rape, seeking revenge against Erica in feeling she "abandoned" her as an infant, She returns in 2002, portrayed by a new actress, Alicia Minshew, as Kendall's birth year was revised to 1976. The later story between Erica and Kendall displayed each character's point of view as they both deal with the ramifications of how Kendall's conception traumatized them, which Lucci praised. This is the first legal abortion aired on American television prior to the landmark Supreme Court Roe v. Wade ruling as Erica sought an abortion in the state of New York which had legalized the procedure in July 1970. Erica was chosen for this storyline as a way to prevent controversy. Since she was a bad girl and not one of the heroines, her choice would not be viewed as something the show supported. The show also protected themselves from controversy by writing Erica as mentally blocking out the abortion and, for a time, believing she miscarried. Viewers loved the story and Erica became a symbol of free choice. Erica develops a potentially fatal infection after having the abortion. McTavish later rewrote the story so the doctor, Greg Madden (Ian Buchanan), transplants the aborted fetus into his infertile wife. They raise the child, Josh Madden (Colin Egglesfield), as their son without Erica's knowledge. Inkling Magazine pointed out how unrealistic this storyline was because "the techniques by which abortion is performed don't exactly lend themselves to excising an embryo viable enough to survive in another woman's womb." The magazine said more likelihood existed in the possibility that Madden harvested Erica's eggs during the procedure, though an invasive surgery like that going unnoticed appeared unlikely as well. In the storyline, Greg harbors an obsession with Erica, which motivates him to choose her for the transplant in the first place.
Erica's youngest child, Bianca Montgomery, enters the series in 1988. At that time, 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. Inkling Magazine looked into the plausibility of her developing toxemia and found it believable. The magazine said, "[W]omen who were born small for their gestational age have a higher risk of developing pre-eclampsia during their own pregnancies. The petite form of [Susan Lucci as Erica] seems to fit that description well. Also, given the character's storyline, which included shooting her sister's mother, Goldie, and the attraction she feels for Jack, her husband's brother, she could have had high blood pressure from stress. That hypertension increases the risk of toxemia." This storyline was inspired by the real life coming out story of Chaz Bono, and the initial reaction by his famous mother Cher.
Erica's other relatives include half-siblings Mark Dalton (Mark LaMura) and Silver Kane (Mary LeSeene). In 1977, Mark and Erica begin a romance, which leads Mona to reveal Mark had also been fathered by Eric Kane, who had engaged in an affair with Mark's mother, Maureen Dalton Tiller, Eric's secretary.
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The character has been married to multiple men, some more than once. 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 eleven. Along with the marriages, the character is also given a number of other love interests. The motivation behind the multiple romances stems from the character's need to fill the void her father left when he abandoned her. The marriage to Jeff ends when she leaves him for her modeling manager, Jason Maxwell, who Mona later kills in self-defense. Erica and Phil marry to give the baby they conceive 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 not conceive their baby for love, they are "rewarded" with a miscarriage, which was typical of loveless unions in that time. Phil wants a divorce after their baby's stillbirth. Though her interest turns to 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 displays antagonistic yet loving qualities. It is the first time Erica meets her match in a man. This was the first daytime location shoot filmed outside of the United States.
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Erica's next love interest is the Tibetan monk Jeremy Hunter (Jean Leclerc). The Jeremy Hunter character was created as a polar opposite of Erica, in part, because he swore a vow of celibacy which contrasted with her sexuality. 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 convicted 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. They have "a very hot romance" and fall in love, but Erica remarries Travis in 1990 at their daughter Bianca's insistence. Once Erica and Dimitri separate for a final time in 1997, 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 engage in sex one last time before he leaves Pine Valley. Jack finds out and breaks things off with her. The writers based the story on Martha Stewart's insider trading scandal. Erica buys Chandler Enterprises stock based on privileged information Adam Chandler shares with her. U.S. Attorney, Sam Woods brings charges 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.
Charles Pratt, Jr. took over as head writer of All My Children in 2008. The next year, he decided to put Erica and Ryan Lavery (Cameron Mathison) together as a couple. News outlets labeled her a "cougar" since Erica is older than Ryan. Pratt defended the story and said what they have "isn't a relationship that's borne out of anything except true respect and a growing affection for each other as Erica becomes Ryan's pillar of support. [He] offers her an escape from what her life has become, which is digging her various daughters out of trouble." In 2024, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows placed Erica at first place on his ranked list of Soaps' 40 Most Iconic Characters of All Time, writing, "Even if you'd never watched a soap a day in your life, you knew the name of the mercurial supermodel-turned-cosmetics mogul that Susan Lucci played from 1970–2011".
Susan Lucci hosted the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live on October 6, 1990. In one sketch, Lucci played Kane as 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).
The Erica Kane character provided inspiration for numerous songs, all of which were named after her. Alternative rock band Urge Overkill titled a song after the character on their album Saturation. The late R&B musical artist Aaliyah recorded a song about drug addiction called "Erica Kane", where the character's name was used as a metaphor for a cocaine. The song was released posthumously on the album I Care 4 U. The band B5 also recorded a song about Erica Kane titled "Erika Cain." The song talks about how they're in a relationship with a beautiful girl, but she is crazy. The group contacted All My Children's producers about doing a cameo on the show. They appeared in the April 25, 2008 episode as activists rallying for Erica's release from prison. During the appearance, the group performed "Erika Cain." They also taped a video for the song with Susan Lucci. Rapper Lil' Kim at times refers to herself as "the black Erica Kane."
Rapper Speaker Knockerz last release before dying in 2014 was titled “Erica Kane”.
Mattel created two dolls based on Erica Kane as part of the company's Daytime Drama Collection. They released the first one in 1998. Mattel modeled that doll after the character's appearance during the Crystal Ball, an annual event in All My Childrens storylines. Her negative reactions to the losses, including pounding her fist on the table and leaving one ceremony in tears, were mentioned in tabloids.