BEST OF THE WORST

This year, in a daring departure from tradition, we at D decided to ditch our customary dual representation of Best and Worst for the January cover and go instead for the ultimate combination of the two: the best of the worst. Our favorite candidate: sultry Susan Lucci, who portrays the despicable Erica Kane on the popular daytime drama, All My Children. No one plays The Vil-lainess as smoothly or as likably (the real test) as Lucci.

What’s the worst thing that has ever happened to Lucci/ Kane? Once, while filming a modeling sequence aboard a Statue of Liberty ferry, Lucci almost met her Maker. The cast was filming on a particularly blustery day, and from where Lucci was standing- against the outside railing of the ship-the wind was gusting to about 20 mph (unbeknownst to members of the film crew, who were standing in the somewhat sheltered center of the ship). At one point, Lucci -a very tiny lady-almost blew off the boat. Her reaction? “I just wondered, ’Will I blow off into the deck or the soup?’ “

Meanwhile, the director, oblivious to what had almost happened, decided that the scene didn’t quite work and asked Lucci to do it again-at which point Lucci broke into tears. The scene stood.

What dastardly deeds does the future hold for Erica? Or, more appropriately, does the future hold any dastardly deeds for her? It seems that Lucci’s contract expires in March, and, at this point, Lucci “doesn’t know yet” whether she’ll renew it.

Lucci recently made her Broadway debut in One Touch of Venus, playing-you guessed it-the bitchy fiancee. She has also recently completed a series for cable TV called Reflections, a collection of emotional pieces about women. Also in the Reflections cast are several not-to-be-sneezed-at names, including Liv Ull-man, Colleen Dewhurst and Jessica Tandy.

And we aren’t the only ones enamored of Lucci. As we were photographing her in a New York studio, a crew from a new syndicated TV show, Breakaway, was filming us photographing her for a five-minute Lucci profile, which aired November 22. When asked during the Breakaway interview whether there was any of Erica in Susan, Lucci said, “Of course there is. I love the attention, the clothes, the makeup…” Ah, but the real question is, how much does she love it? Stay tuned for the answer to that question and more. Whatever the outcome, Lucci will surely emerge triumphant.