Nola Madison
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Nola Madison is a fictional character from the
ABC Daytime ABC Daytime (sometimes shortened to ABC-D or ABCD) is a division responsible for the daytime television programming block on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC Network and syndicated programming. The block has historically encompassed soap o ...
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
''
The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American mystery crime drama soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network for most of its ...
''. The role was played by actress
Kim Hunter Kim Hunter (born Janet Cole; November 12, 1922 – September 11, 2002) was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' ''A Streetcar ...
from June 1979 to March 1980.


Character


Casting and development

''
The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American mystery crime drama soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network for most of its ...
'' casting director, Ruth Levine, happened to meet film actress
Kim Hunter Kim Hunter (born Janet Cole; November 12, 1922 – September 11, 2002) was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' ''A Streetcar ...
at a cocktail party just as head writer
Henry Slesar Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 – April 2, 2002) was an American author and playwright. He is famous for his use of irony and Plot twist#Twist ending, twist endings. After reading Slesar's "M Is for the Many" in ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Maga ...
had devised a storyline about "an aging movie star who drinks too much and has a messed-up love life." Hunter, known for portraying
Stella Kowalski Stella Kowalski (née DuBois) is one of the main characters in Tennessee Williams' play ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. She is the younger sister of central character Blanche DuBois and wife of Stanley Kowalski. In the play The play begins when Bla ...
in the original production of
Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...
' ''
A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pe ...
'', and later winning both an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
for Best Supporting Actress and a
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...
for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for the 1951 film adaptation, initially declined the short term role of Nola Madison. Eventually she signed a six-month contract. Hunter first appeared as Nola in June 1979, with the understanding that the character would be written out by December 1979. Slesar later came up with an extended storyline in which Nola would play a witch in a horror film, and a side plot in which she would disguise herself as an old woman and drug some of the other characters. Hunter agreed to stay with the series for three more months. Hunter said in 1999 that the offer to do a soap opera was a "peculiar suggestion" at the time, but she found the character "interesting". Richard Simms of ''
Soaps She Knows There are multiple media outlets which focus primarily on television soap operas and telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") ...
'' wrote that ''The Edge of Night'' could "attract actors who might otherwise not have considered joining a soap" because many plots in the series "revolved around short-term evil-doers who would eventually be brought to justice by the core characters". Though lamenting that the fast pace of soap opera production allowed for less rehearsal than she was used to, Hunter said, "The characters are fascinating and are allowed to grow and progress, which doesn't happen very often on nighttime TV." Hunter said that the
live to tape Broadcasting is the distribution of audio audiovisual content to dispersed audiences via a electronic mass communications medium, typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began with ...
, five episode per week pace was "exhausting", but that the job was an "extraordinary experience" that she did not regret. Her last appearance was on March 14, 1980.


Description

J. Bernard Jones of ''
Daytime Confidential There are multiple media outlets which focus primarily on television soap operas and telenovela A telenovela is a type of a television serial drama or soap opera produced primarily in Latin America. The word combines ''tele'' (for "television") ...
'' explained that "Head writer
Henry Slesar Henry Slesar (June 12, 1927 – April 2, 2002) was an American author and playwright. He is famous for his use of irony and Plot twist#Twist ending, twist endings. After reading Slesar's "M Is for the Many" in ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Maga ...
shrewdly wrote Nola as a combination of Stella Kowalski from ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' and Norma Desmond
Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, United States, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway (California), Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, Pacific Palisad ...
'']: drunk, neurotic, jealous, egotistical, vengeful, lonely, sad, murderous, tragic and ultimately broken."


Storylines

Film star Nola Madison arrives in Monticello in June 1979, having checked herself out of a rehabilitation center where she was battling alcoholism. Her producer husband Owen Madison (
Bruce Gray Bruce Gray (September 7, 1936 – December 13, 2017) was a Canadian actor, known for multiple roles in films and television shows for over five decades. Early years Gray was born in Puerto Rico and lived in Toronto after 1949. He graduated fro ...
) and adult stepdaughter Paige (
Margaret Colin Margaret Colin (born May 26, 1958) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Constance Spano in ''Independence Day'', Margo Hughes on ''As the World Turns'' and as Eleanor Waldorf-Rose on ''Gossip Girl''. Early life Margaret Colin ...
) had come to town weeks earlier because of Paige's criminal involvement with a militant revolutionary group. Nola and Owen's son Brian (Stephen McNaughton) appears, and Paige agrees to turns state's evidence against her cohorts. Subsequently, Paige survives several attempts on her life. With her career in decline, Nola has resumed drinking, and she obsesses about Owen's infatuation with police detective Deborah Saxon (
Frances Fisher Frances Louise Fisher (born May 11, 1952) is an American actress. She began her career in theater and later starred as Detective Deborah Saxon in the CBS daytime soap opera ''The Edge of Night'' (1976–1981). In film, she is known for her rol ...
). In August 1979, Nola is offered the role of witch Hester Atherton, the lead in a horror movie called ''Mansion of the Damned''. She hears Owen tell producer Eddie Vaughn (Stratton Walling) that she is washed up, and goes on a drunken bender. Half-siblings Paige and Brian are tortured by their secret love for each other, and Eddie, who is Nola's ex-lover, confesses that he still loves her. Movie star Trent Archer (
Farley Granger Farley Earle Granger Jr. (July 1, 1925 – March 27, 2011) was an American actor. Granger was first noticed in a small stage production in Hollywood by a Goldwyn casting director, and given a significant role in '' The North Star'' (1943), a co ...
) is hired to play opposite Nola, but quits in fear as the film set is plagued by accidents and strange occurrences. Nola takes an interest in married playboy
Eliot Dorn The following is a list of characters from the Procter & Gamble daytime soap opera ''The Edge of Night'', which ran from 1956 to 1984. A Nadine Alexander Scott :Dorothy Stinnette (1976–1977, 1980) Nadine is a wealthy socialite, the ...
(Lee Godart), but is also furious that Owen and Deborah have gotten closer. Deborah begins receiving mysterious phone calls in October 1979, and after her apartment is ransacked, she and Owen kiss. Nola and Eddie discuss the "pranks" they have been playing on set as a publicity stunt, and Paige and Deborah suspect that Nola is behind the phone calls. Deborah tells Nola to stop, assuring the actress she has no interest in interfering with her marriage to Owen. Nola sends Deborah a box of poisoned chocolates. Deborah survives, but cannot prove that Nola was behind it. Realizing that Brian and Paige are in love, Eddie urges Nola to confess the truth that he is Brian's father, and Paige and Brian are not related. When filming is over, Nola lures Deborah to the studio and sets it on fire, but Eddie is trapped instead. He dies before he can tell Brian the truth, but his will reveals Brian's true paternity. Paige and Brian marry, and leave town in November 1979. In December 1979, Nola disguises herself as an old woman, Martha Cory, and moves into an apartment near Deborah. Nola feeds drugged soup to Deborah, who collapses. She survives, so Nola arranges for Deborah to be abducted and left in the woods. Dr. Miles Cavanaugh (
Joel Crothers Joel Anthony Crothers (January 28, 1941 – November 6, 1985) was an American actor. His credits primarily included stage and television work, including a number of soap opera roles, the best known being Miles Cavanaugh on ''The Edge of Night'', ...
) becomes suspicious of Nola. She gives a drugged fruitcake to a deathly ill Deborah, but Miles realizes what Nola is up to. He threatens to tell the police and she agrees to leave Deborah alone, but then Nola drugs the water cooler in Miles's office. He becomes erratic and prone to violent outbursts, and nearly pushes his wife Nicole Cavanaugh (Jayne Bentzen) over a penthouse railing on New Year's Eve. Nola and Eliot both realize that they hate Miles. In January 1980, prosecutor Cliff Nelson (Ernie Townsend) gets sick from Mrs. Cory's soup. Still under the influence of Nola's drugs, Miles is taunted by a hallucination of his deceased wife, and becomes convinced that Nicole is having an affair with Police Chief
Derek Mallory The following is a list of characters from the Procter & Gamble daytime soap opera ''The Edge of Night'', which ran from 1956 to 1984. A Nadine Alexander Scott :Dorothy Stinnette (1976–1977, 1980) Nadine is a wealthy socialite, the ...
( Dennis Parker). Nola and Eliot are furious that his bitter wife, newscaster Margo Huntington ( Ann Williams), is intent on punishing him by not giving him an easy divorce. Miles reveals to police detective Steve Guthrie (Denny Albee), who is seeing Deborah, that Nola posed as Mrs. Cory to torment her, but Deborah has figured this out on her own. Margo is bludgeoned to death, and Eliot reminds Nola that they are now free to marry. Eliot is a suspect, and as an alibi he claims to have been with a married woman he refuses to name. Having suffered a blackout, Miles fears he may have committed the crime. He nearly commits suicide before Derek realizes the water cooler is drugged. Proof surfaces that Mrs. Cory purchased illegal drugs, and Derek vows to get Nola even though Deborah and Miles decline to file charges. Margo's son-in-law
Draper Scott The following is a list of characters from the Procter & Gamble daytime soap opera ''The Edge of Night'', which ran from 1956 to 1984. A Nadine Alexander Scott :Dorothy Stinnette (1976–1977, 1980) Nadine is a wealthy socialite, the ...
(Tony Craig) is charged with her murder. Margo's doorman testifies that Nola had visited Margo the night she died, but Margo had left the building after Nola had. Eliot's alibi is challenged but his lover, revealed to be Raven Alexander (
Sharon Gabet Sharon Gabet (born ''Sharon Rose Gabet''; January 13, 1952 in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is an American actress known for roles on daytime soap operas. Television career Gabet is best known for her portrayal of Raven Alexander Whitney on the ABC so ...
), makes a dramatic entrance into the courtroom. Draper is convicted. In March 1980, Nola is jealous of Eliot's history with Raven, and resumes drinking. Deborah finds Margo's wig among Nola's belongings, and confronts her. Nola unravels, and confesses that she killed Margo in an unplanned, jealous rage because Margo would not divorce Eliot. Nola then seized the opportunity to frame Draper, putting on Margo's wig to pretend for eyewitnesses that Margo left and came back before Draper's arrival. Owen and Steve escort Nola to the police station.


Reception

Hunter was nominated for a
Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York-based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NA ...
for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1980 for her portrayal of Nola, though
Judith Light Judith Ellen Light (born February 9, 1949) is an American actress. She made her professional stage debut in 1970, before making her Broadway debut in the 1975 revival of ''A Doll's House''. Her breakthrough role was in the ABC daytime soap oper ...
won that year for portraying housewife-turned-hooker Karen Wolek on the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
soap opera ''
One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...
''. Jones called Hunter's performance in her final scenes "stunning", and wrote "Keep your eyes on Hunter, who dominates every frame, going from mildly tipsy to staggering drunk to slightly detached insanity, yet never losing her wit or intelligence. Hunter does bravura work in an episode that was a brilliant denouement to one of ''Edge'' most confounding murder mysteries and magnificent send-off for one of the series' most memorable characters and actresses."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Madison, Nola The Edge of Night characters Fictional actors Fictional female murderers Television characters introduced in 1979 American female characters in soap operas