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Rosemary Prinz, known for her role as Penny Hughes on the daytime TV show As the World Turns (1956-1968), was the leading soap actress of her era, often compared to Susan Lucci. Born on January 4, 1931, in the Bronx, New York City, her father was a classical musician who played cello with the New York String Quartet and once performed under the renowned conductor Arturo Toscanini, setting a strong artistic path for Rosemary.
A highly talented child, she finished high school at 16 and immediately entered summer stock theater, debuting in 1947 with Dream Girls and later appearing in Dear Ruth and Kiss and Tell. She toured with theater groups such as The Vagabond Players and, trained by Sanford Meisner, made her Broadway debut in 1952 as a girl scout in The Grey-Eyed People at the Martin Beck Theatre.
Rosemary found her breakthrough in daytime soap operas in 1954, starting as Amy in First Love before landing the iconic role of Penny Hughes, cementing her place in soap opera history. After As the World Turns, soap creator Agnes Nixon leveraged her fame to help launch All My Children in 1970.
Though best known for soap operas, Rosemary was a dedicated and accomplished stage actress throughout her career. She showcased her vocal talents in musicals such as Paint Your Wagon, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Kiss Me Kate, Annie Get Your Gun, Applause, Mame, Gypsy, and I Do! I Do!.
A career highlight was portraying opera diva Maria Callas in four separate productions of Master Class. She also appeared in classic plays like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Glass Menagerie, A Long Day's Journey Into Night, and the 1978 Broadway production of Tribute alongside Jack Lemmon.
Throughout her long career, Rosemary returned to various TV soaps, including How to Survive a Marriage (1974), Ryan’s Hope (1975), and occasional appearances on As the World Turns.
Her later film work included roles in the romantic film The Bread, My Sweet (2001), the short Extreme Mom (2004), and the comedy Humor Me (2017).
