If you’ve caught an episode of All My Children, you’ve seen Susan Lucci in her element. The Emmy award-winning actress is known for portraying Erica Kane on the series for the show’s entire 41 years. “Erica was the bad girl in town, the naughty girl, the pot stirrer,” says Lucci, 76. Playing her, she says, was one of the best times of her life.

“I never thought that the audience was going to love her as much as I did,” she says. But they did: The soap garnered devoted fans from across the nation, with Lucci’s notorious character becoming one of the genre’s most beloved roles of all time. She spoke with Parade about her years as Erica Kane and how she coped with a dangerous heart blockage that nearly killed her.