Susan Lucci (Erica, ALL MY CHILDREN) found herself at the center of the biggest Daytime Emmy controversy yet – three years after winning her first Emmy Award as Outstanding Lead Actress and losing 19 times. At this year´s Emmys, when THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL´s Adrienne Frantz and Justin Torkildsen (Amber and Rick) announced the name of the winner of the 2002 Lead Actress Award, the ferocious applause from the audience muted out the recipient’s last name and all that was audible to most was the name “Susan.” Even the award show director and cameraman believed the winner to be Lucci and played the AMC theme song, which led many to believe that Lucci had won her second Emmy Award.
“Everyone where we were on stage left heard Susan Whooshi,” explained Rosie O´Donnell, who was standing with Lucci, who had announced the previous award winner. “I went ‘Omigod! Susan won again!’ The cameraman went to Lucci and told her to go on stage and accept her award. So, she starts to walk. It wasn´t Susan´s fault because she even asked if it was Susan Flannery (Stephanie, THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL). Even Lucci didn´t seem to believe it – you could tell she looked stunned”, sighed O´Donnell.
The winner turned out to be Flannery, but even the grand dame herself didn´t think she´d won. “When the winner was announced, I though Finola Hughes (Anna) had won because of the AMC music. When I heard Susan again, I still didn´t get it. I said, ‘Holy s**t!’ I was shocked.”
Thankfully, Lucci was pulled off stage before the two bumped into each other. O´Donnell stated perfectly, “Susan Lucci is a very classy lady. I´m happy for the other Susan – she is very talented. And I´m sure La Lucci is thrilled for Flannery.”
Many wonder if the mistake was done on purpose to throw the actress back into the Emmy glare. Whether that´s true or not, it was the talk of the night. As Kelly Ripa (Hayley, AMC) put it, “I couldn´t believe my eyes. Poor Susan.”
Soap Opera Update, June 18, 2002.