Born in Buffalo and raised in Bronxville, NY, Ms. Fickett studied acting at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse under Sanford Meisner. She started her television career working in live television programs like Kraft Television Theatre in the 1950s.

In 1958 she received a Tony Award nomination as Best Featured Actress for playing Eleanor Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello, opposite Ralph Bellamy as Franklin. The previous year, she had won a Theatre World Award after replacing Deborah Kerr in the hit Tea and Sympathy. She returned to Broadway one more time, in the short-lived 1963 comedy Love and Kisses.

Her career took an interesting turn in 1961, when she became co-host, with Harry Reasoner, of "Calendar," a morning television news show. It ran from 1961 to 1963.

Ms. Fickett was in the first episode of "All My Children" on Jan. 5, 1970. She stayed with the show until 1996. "All My Children" is set to go off the air Sept. 23.

Fickett had two children from her three marriages. Her third and final marriage was to Allen Fristoe. He died in 2008.