Bonus Entry No. 1: Carly Corinthos, General Hospital
Forget her made-man husband. Laura Wright’s Mafia donna has the lady equivalent of the stones to not only run the Mob, run it better and more ruthlessly than any muscle-bound goon.
Soaps’ Greatest Female Characters Ever, Ranked [PHOTOS]
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Bonus Entry No. 2: Maya Avant, The Bold and the Beautiful
Image Credit: Denis Guignebourg/JPI The transgender Forrester Creations model was more than just another pretty face, Karla Mosley’s alter ego was the face of change, a righteous challenge to outdated definitions of gender.
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10. Drucilla Winters, The Young and the Restless
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI Daytime no longer tells aspirational stories like the one that made a star of Victoria Rowell. She took Dru from being an illiterate street kid to a sophisticated mover and shaker who could still throw down with the best of ’em.
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9. Stephanie Forrester, The Bold and the Beautiful
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI Susan Flannery’s Forrester matriarch could’ve topped this whole list, as indomitable as she was. If only she hadn’t had a vindictive streak that was wider than the stripes in the fashion dynasty’s fall 2007 line.
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8. Lucinda Walsh, As the World Turns
Image Credit: ©John Paschal/jpistudios.com Confident enough to want but never need the company of a man, Elizabeth Hubbard’s Oakdale alter ego would’ve ranked higher on this list, too, had it not been for her willingness to connive. (Yes, we dock points for that!)
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7. Angie Hubbard, All My Children
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI A testament to an unflappable can-do attitude, Debbi Morgan’s teen mom-turned-doctor spoke volumes about not only her determination and resilience but all women’s limitless potential.
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6. Elizabeth Baldwin, General Hospital
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI Though Rebecca Herbst’s widowed nurse is as flawed as any of us, she always at very least means to do the right thing. And in daytime, let’s be real, the high road is generally the one less travelled!
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5. Hope Brady, Days of Our Lives
Image Credit: John Paschal/JPI “Holding Out for a Hero” may have been the theme song of Kristian Alfonso’s on-screen husband, but it might as well have been hers: She needed rescuing about as much as we do a wine refill. (Although, come to think of it… )
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4. Althea Davis, The Doctors
Image Credit: Courtesy of the Everett Collection Not just a brilliant M.D. in her heyday, a trailblazer, Elizabeth Hubbard’s strong-minded character refused to fall victim to the sexist double standard that permeated Hope Memorial Hospital.
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3. Marlena Evans, Days of Our Lives
Image Credit: NBC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection Not to put too fine a point on it, but you know you’ve got it going on when, as Deidre Hall’s large-living shrink did, even a demon wants to possess you.
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2. Ruth Martin, All My Children
Image Credit: Courtesy of the Everett Collection You probably expected to see Erica Kane on this list. But for our money, the fiercer female — and better role model — was Mary Fickett’s working mom with the courage to publicly protest the Vietnam War. (BTW, this pic is from 1957’s Man on Fire; the ABC soap never let Fickett go this glam.)
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1. Laura Collins, General Hospital
Image Credit: ABC/Courtesy of the Everett Collection Don’t look at where Genie Francis’ iconic alter ego began, as a tempestuous tween. Gaze instead at what she’s become, a beacon of righteousness in a town as synonymous with sin as Sodom and Gomorrah.
