Ruth Warrick

Actress

"When I first signed up to do soaps, I would hear, 'How can Mrs. 'Citizen Kane' belittle herself in a soap opera?' But Orson Welles told me, 'That’s nonsense. The best acting on television is in the daytime. Those people are the real storytellers. They’re the real actors and actresses.' I was very grateful for that. And I tend to agree."

About This Interview

In her four-and-a-half-hour Archive interview, Ruth Warrick (1916-2005) talks about her beginnings as "Miss Jubilesta," which led to a brief career in radio drama. She recalls her early chance meeting with Orson Welles, which led to her being cast in the groundbreaking feature film "Citizen Kane" as the wife of Charles Foster Kane. She discusses her years under contract at RKO, and speaks of her friendship with Welles - who encouraged her to enter daytime drama. Warrick recounts her early experiences on live television, and outlines getting cast on her first daytime drama, Guiding Light. She describes working on the daytime serial As the World Turns, which led to her being cast as "Hannah Cord" in the popular nighttime drama Peyton Place, opposite Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow. She recalls being cast as "Phoebe Tyler" in Agnes Nixon's All My Children, and discusses All My Children's groundbreaking and sometimes controversial storylines. She concludes by commenting on what daytime drama does best, and speakis of various people with whom she has worked. Michael Rosen conducted the interview in New York City on June 29, 1999.