Helen Wagner | 'As World Turns' star, 91

Actress Helen Wagner, 91, who played mild-mannered Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns for more than a half-century and spoke its first words, died Saturday.

The show's New York-based production company, TeleNext Media Inc., did not say where she died or what the cause of death was.

Ms. Wagner opened As the World Turns when it premiered April 2, 1956, with the words "Good morning, dear." She held the Guinness World Record for playing the same role on television for the longest amount of time - 54 years, TeleNext said.

"All of us at As the World Turns are deeply saddened by Helen's passing," executive producer Christopher Goutman said. "She is loved by generations of fans."

While Ms. Wagner, who was born in Lubbock, Texas, was seen less often in later decades, no other network television performer came close to her run playing a single character. She was still part of the cast, though with a small presence, in December 2009, when CBS announced that the soap opera was being canceled and that its last episode would air in September 2010. Her final appearance aired April 5.

She appeared on Broadway in the 1940s and on early TV shows before As the World Turns. In 2004 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. - AP