Penny Hughes is a fictional character from the daytime drama As the World Turns. She is one of the core cast members. Prinz herself described the character as "America’s sweetheart at the time".
Casting
Rosemary Prinz originated the role of Penny in the first episode of As the World Turns. Prinz recalled the on-set tension with the show's creator Irna Phillips, who had fired the show's leading cast member Helen Wagner six months into the show because she didn't like the way she poured coffee. "Irna did not like my going out and doing plays," she recalled, "I was twenty-five when I was hired to play Penny. I thought I was going to stay five years at the most. I stayed for twelve. I did the twelve because I still needed to pay for my analysis. After those twelve years, analysis made me as uncrazy as I was going to or wanted to be." Prinz claimed she would often deal Phillips threats back stage. "I would tell [her] I was going to get pregnant." A focal point of Penny's angst was her inability to have children. "I would constantly have to tell Irna that I was Rosemary, not Penny. Penny was a character."
Prinz told the New York Post in December 2009 that they recast Penny, however that actress only lasted 13 weeks due to enormous "uproar". Prinz also wanted the show to deal with the death of the country's president John F. Kennedy in 1963. "When Kennedy died, there was four days of complete television coverage, Friday to Monday, and it was just — the nation was in this deep mourning. It was just 9/11, for four days. And when we got back on Tuesday, I said, “We can’t just have a scene without mentioning what we’ve all been through." "They said, 'Oh, no, we can’t do that. Just do the script.' So I started a scene with Grandpa, and of course it’s live, what are they going to do? So I said, 'Grandpa, here we are talking about Tommy, and after all the country’s been through for the last four days.' I got in what I had to say. And then they all rushed down from the control room and I said, 'Oh God, I just said the first thing that came into my head!'" "Irna got even with me in the end. I couldn’t wait for my contract to be over — I paid the analyst, I got un-crazy and I didn’t want to do the show anymore. And so Irna had me steal my brother’s child and go off to England. So this heroine is suddenly doing this terrible thing." "I was supposed to be this monument of goodness."
Storylines
One of the first love stories of the show was that of Penny Hughes and Jeff Baker. When they fell in love, Penny's mother, Nancy Hughes disapproved of the relationship. Penny then accused her mother of loving her dead sister, Susan Hughes, more than her. Penny eloped with Jeff and they were going to run away but decided to turn around. Nancy insisted the marriage be annulled.
Al James, one of their classmates, called Penny a tramp and teased Jeff so one day Jeff got into a fight with him and ended up killing him and being charged with murder. Penny started to date Tom Pope and Nancy was happy.
When Tom overheard Jeff declare his love for Penny, Tom left her and she and Jeff get married in a church. Jeff's mother Grace wanted him to resign for the business but when Jeff overheard that he began to drink and left Oakdale and went to another town and assumed the name of Jack Baily.
Penny was saddened by it and Nancy wanted her to divorce Jeff but she wouldn't. Penny and Greg Williams made a date which Meg Blaine overheard and doesn't tell her Jeff is in the hospital. Jeff returned to town and Penny was about to divorce him but decided to take him back. They get married again with their parents blessing' but tragedy struck when they got into a car accident which killed Jeff instantly and put Penny into a coma.