There was a time when all anyone wanted to know when Daytime Emmy day came was whether Susan Lucci would finally win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. For 18 years, the soap icon went home empty-handed -- until 1999.
All was quiet in Radio City Music Hall when The Young and the Restless star Shemar Moore read the names of the nominees and opened the red-sealed envelope with the winner's name inside. As soon as Moore shouted the words, "The streak is over," everyone in the audience knew who had won.
On her 19th nomination, Lucci finally won her coveted statuette after an emotional story in which her All My Children character, Erica Kane, dealt with her daughter Bianca's anorexia.
In her acceptance speech, Lucci thanked her fans and her husband, the late Helmut Huber, before throwing it back to Erica. "I'm going to go back to that studio Monday, and I'm going to play Erica Kane for all she's worth," she said.
A quarter of a century later, Lucci remembered that night fondly -- and credits Erica and the woman who created her for that win. She shared a snap of herself holding her Emmy on Instagram, writing: "25 years ago today!!! They tell me I made television history that day!!! Well-that history was made with Erica Kane and the visionary Agnes Nixon, who created All My Children-and gave the fabulously flawed Erica to me!!! I am forever grateful to her-and the legions of loving, passionate fans who got her and have been there for me from day 1!!!
"Thank you with all my heart!!"
In 2023, Lucci finally got to take home a second golden Emmy when she was honored with a Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award. In a nod to her 1999 win, Moore was on hand to present it to her.
When Lucci accepted her lifetime achievement trophy, she recalled how she felt all those years ago.
"On the 19th nomination, when I heard Shemar Moore announce, 'The streak is over,' and then he said my name, I began by thanking God for the many blessings," she said. "And I begin there again tonight."
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