Myrtle Fargate
 | This article was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 23:48, 18 October 2011 (UTC), with a consensus to merge the content into the article List of All My Children characters. If you find that such action has not been taken promptly, please consider assisting in the merger instead of re-nominating the article for deletion. To discuss the merger, please use the destination article's talk page. (June 2012) |
 | This article needs attention from an expert in Soap Operas. The specific problem is: This character debuted in 1976 as a phony "mother" but then become motherly to many characters for years until actress's death. She was a result of Phoebe Tyler's meddling. Also, older non-primary sources are offline, inaccessible, and obscure to find. (June 2012) |
 | This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary. (June 2012) |
| Myrtle Fargate | |||||||||||||||||
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| All My Children character | |||||||||||||||||
| File:Myrtle Fargate.jpg Eileen Herlie as Myrtle Fargate | |||||||||||||||||
| Portrayed by | Eileen Herlie | ||||||||||||||||
| First appearance | 1976 | ||||||||||||||||
| Last appearance | June 23, 2008 | ||||||||||||||||
| Created by | Agnes Nixon | ||||||||||||||||
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Myrtle Fargate (née Lum) is a fictional character on the American daytime drama All My Children, as portrayed by Eileen Herlie from 1976 to the actress' death. Even though Herlie died on October 8, her last episode aired on June 23, 2008. On December 19, 2008 Myrtle will be remembered for 32 years on the soap.
Character history
Pre Pine Valley days
During her years in the carnival, Myrtle began dating Marcello Angelini, an acrobat of the Angelini Brothers, from Naples. The two were in love and wanted to marry but Marcello's brother had arranged for him to marry another woman from a circus family in Italy. By the time that she found out that she was pregnant with Rae Cummings, he had already married. She gave the baby up for adoption and sometime later Marcello died after doing a dangerous stunt and his brother failed to catch him.
Arriving in Pine Valley
Myrtle Lum comes to Pine Valley, Pennsylvania as a former carny and a somewhat partner-in-crime to Phoebe Tyler Wallingford, as she is trying to break up her son, Lincoln's, marriage to Kitty Shea. She is to pose as her mother, Mrs. Lucy Carpenter. However, a real bond of affection blooms between Kitty and Myrtle. Naturally, the scheme fails, and Phoebe is defeated again. Kitty is dying of a brain disease, and Myrtle and Lincoln vow to make her last months happy ones. They do, and Kitty dies at peace. Myrtle meets a man named Nigel Fargate and eventually marries him, away from Pine Valley. When Nigel dies, Myrtle returns to Pine Valley.
She owns the Boutique, a clothing store that is owned by Lincoln's late sister, Ann Tyler, and also owns a boarding house in Pine Valley. She is best friends with Phoebe's former rival, Mona Kane Tyler, and when Mona dies, she becomes the surrogate mother to Erica Kane (to Myrtle's mind and heart, Erica is her girl). She is also the surrogate grandmother to Erica's children, Kendall Hart, Josh Madden and Bianca Montgomery (Bianca once stayed at Myrtle's boarding house, where she was raped by Michael Cambias). She functions in a great grandmotherly capacity to Miranda Montgomery, Spike Lavery and Ian Slater as well, Kendall and Bianca's children. As such, she is often considered a member of the Kane-Montgomery family. She also functions as a mother figure to Zach Slater, Kendall's husband, when he needs some clarity in his life. Her last scene on June 23, 2008 was giving Zach advice at his Cambias office. The character's run ended on October 8, 2008. with the actress' passing due to pneumonia.
On December 18, 2008, Erica will phone phone Zach with the news of Myrtle's passing. Then on December 19, those closest to Myrtle, Erica, Zach, Bianca and Opal, received gifts from Myrtle and looked back (along with Pete Cortlandt, Jesse Hubbard, Angie Hubbard, Frankie Hubbard, Kelly Tyler, Amanda Dillon, Ryan Lavery, Greenlee Smythe, and Jackson Montgomery) at their time with her in flashbacks as the town gathers for a memorial service at Zach's newly rebuilt casino. Zach names a room at the casino in honor, the "Fargate Carnival Room".
Notes
- ^ Stated on-air on All My Children on February 23, 2000.