New York City ? Actress Helen Wagner, who played mild-mannered Nancy Hughes on the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns” for more than a half-century and spoke its first words, has died at age 91.

She died Saturday, said the show’s New York-based production company, TeleNext Media Inc., which didn’t say where she died or what was the cause of her death.

Wagner opened “As the World Turns” when it premiered on April 2, 1956, with the words: “Good morning, dear.” She held the Guinness World Record for playing the same role on television for the longest amount of time, 54 years, TeleNext Media said.

While Wagner, who was born in Lubbock, Texas, was seen less often in later decades, no other network television performer came close to her run playing a single character.

She was still part of the cast, though with a small presence, in December 2009, when CBS announced that “As the World Turns” was being canceled and its last episode would air in September 2010.