Susan Lucci doesn’t seem to age. This week the soap actress looked sensational at the age of 76 on the red carpet.
The diva lit up the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection concert in New York City.
She wore a scarlet strapless dress that reached the waist and had a mermaid finish.
‘I’m telling my heart story during yesterday’s beautiful GO Red for Women lunch at Tavern On The Green! What passionate leaders and survivors – so inspiring to hear their stories!,” she wrote on Instagram on Friday.
She then said it was all about ‘women helping women’.
Mira Sorvino and Demi Lovato were also present at the event.
Susan Lucci doesn’t seem to age. This week the soap actress looked sensational at the age of 76 on the red carpet
The diva lit up the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection concert in New York City
One night in January, discomfort radiated from around her ribcage. She was short of breath. Something was definitely wrong.
But it was late at night and she didn’t want to bother her doctor. At first she didn’t even tell her husband. She went to bed.
“I just wanted to let it all out,” Lucci told the AHA. ‘Then I felt a sharp pain in the left side of my jaw. I had read that this can also be a symptom for women who are having a heart attack. It really woke me up.’
At her husband’s insistence, she finally called her cardiologist at home. He didn’t hesitate.
“He said, ‘I’ll see you in the ER. Call me when you’re close,” she said.
By morning, she had a stent implanted in a coronary artery that was 80% blocked, potentially avoiding a major heart attack.
“You can never really say how quickly it could have happened, but certainly within a year,” said Dr. Richard Shlofmitz, chairman of the department of cardiology at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York. He diagnosed the problem and performed the procedure. ‘It’s like having a tree trunk in a river and some twigs get stuck on it. It just builds up.”
Years earlier, the actress had her first cardiovascular episode, when doctors discovered that two other arteries were blocked, one 90% and the other 75%.
Lucci had ignored the worsening symptoms for a few weeks until crushing chest pain finally sent her to the hospital. Two stents – small wire mesh tubes that widen clogged arteries and provide adequate blood flow to the heart – quickly resolved the problem and likely saved her life.
“Life went back to normal very quickly,” said the actress, who lives on New York’s Long Island. “Two days after I got fired, I was on stage, and life was still great.”
Here she was seen playing with a small dog while on the red carpet
In December, she honored her late husband when she accepted her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Daytime Emmy Awards in New York.
The actress, best known for her role as Erica Kane on the long-running soap opera All My Children, began her speech by enthusiastically saying it was “the icing on the cake” that she and Susan Lucci’s son, Andreas, 36, are in sat. public.
“It means so much to me to have you here with me,” she said as she accepted the honor, she told him from the stage. ‘I also feel your father’s presence here with us tonight.
She continued: I thank my husband, Helmet Huber, because he had everything to do with me standing here tonight and receiving this incredible award.”
She wore a scarlet strapless dress that reached the waist and had a mermaid finish
‘I’m telling my heart story during yesterday’s beautiful GO Red for Women lunch at Tavern On The Green! What passionate leaders and survivors – so inspiring to hear their stories!,” she wrote on Instagram on Friday. She then said it was all about ‘women helping women’. Mira Sorvino and Demi Lovato were also present at the event
Lucci’s husband of almost 53 years passed away in March 2022 at the age of 84. The two met while both working at a hotel and became engaged after three weeks of dating. They married in September 1969.
She and the Austrian-born writer and producer shared two children Andreas, 36, and Liza, 48.
Huber acted as Lucci’s manager for much of her career and was the CEO of their production company, Pine Valley Productions, named after the fictional town where All My Children took place.
Lucci played Erica Kane starting in 1970 and continued to portray their feisty character until All My Children ended in 2011.
Erica was popular with fans and Lucci was nominated for 19 Best Actress awards until she finally received one in 1999.
Shemar Moore, 53, who opened the envelope when Lucci finally won the long-coveted honor, was there Friday to present her with the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“She has appeared in TV series as well as film and stage… she has been ranked as one of the 50 biggest television stars of all time and I couldn’t agree more,” the SWAT star said.
When Lucci won in 1999, Moore excitedly announced that “the streak is over” before shouting her name.
Lucci was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 50th annual Daytime Emmy Awards in New York City on December 15.
Lucci began her career as Erica Kane on All My Children in 1970. She continued to portray “bad girl about town” until the soap opera ended in 2011.
The actress met her husband of almost 53 years, Helmut Huber, when both worked in a hotel. They got engaged after three weeks of dating and married in September 1969 and remained together until his death in 2022 at age 84 (pictured in New York in November 2017)
The couple had two children, Liza, 48, and Andreas, 36 (seen in Los Angeles in January 2005)
In her acceptance speech, Lucci said: ‘I thank my husband Helmet Huber because he had everything to do with me standing here tonight and receiving this incredible award’ (pictured in New York in February 2020)
A tribute video featured clips of both of her children, All My Children alumni Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, boyfriend Andy Cohen and Carol Burnett, 90, who has appeared on the show several times as different characters.
As she accepted her statuette, the veteran actress, who looked stunning in a strapless orange and silver dress, told the crowd: “How lucky I am that I dream of being an actress and growing up and realizing my dreams to make? There were obstacles and roadblocks – they were so-called obstacles and roadblocks – but tonight is a night to celebrate.”
When she received her 1999 award, Lucci recalled that she began her speech “by thanking God for the many blessings. I’ll start there again tonight, starting with my parents for their love.”
“I thank them for the example they set for me,” she continued, “because they told me I could shoot for the moon and the stars, and never have to be afraid.
She also expressed gratitude to her teachers for “giving me the tools to be the kind of actress I wanted to be,” and she mentioned All My Children creator Agnes Nixon, who died in 2016.
Shemar Moore, who opened the envelope when Lucci finally won her only Daytime Emmy in 1999, was on hand Friday to present the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“She was a groundbreaking, visionary storyteller who gave me the role of a lifetime, the fabulously flawed Erica Kane,” who called Lucci the “bad girl about town” and said, “She had spirit.”
Of course, Erica wouldn’t have had such a long life in TV land without the fans and the beloved actress thanked them for their support.
“I’m forever grateful to the fans for loving Erica Kane even though she wasn’t that sweet,” she continued. “Thanks to them I was able to play her again and again.”
Fans can stream the Daytime Emmy Awards on CBS.com or Paramount+
