Tonight we say goodbye to ABC’s soaptastic Ugly Betty. During its four seasons the over-the-top dramady made America Ferrera a star and won her an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award, breathed new life into the careers of Vanessa Williams, Judith Light and Tony Plana and introduced us to Michael Uri, Mark Indelicato and Becki Newton. It also treated fans to a lot of laughs, shocking plot twists and more than a few catfights, all centered in the sensationalized world of MODE magazine. As Ugly Betty takes its final bow it’s important to remember its most important theme, it’s what’s inside each of us that matters most.

Photo Credit: ABC

There are unforgettable performances in daytime television, many of them etched in fable or memory. Who among us who witnessed it the first time it aired will ever forget Judith Light during Karen Wolek's testimony in which she revealed she was a hooker on One Life To Live?  How about Kim Zimmer as Reva declaring herself the slut of Springfield or Beverlee McKinsey's Alexandra and her lethal evisceration of Roger at the country club on Guiding Light? Almost everyone involved in the aftermath of BJ's death on General Hospital was awesome. There was Mary Fickett's brilliance in the aftermath of Ruth's rape by Ray Gardner on All My Children. And who could forget Douglass Watson's titanic performance when Iris (Carmen Duncan) revealed to Mac she was behind the attempted takeover of Cory Publishing on Another World?  There are untold dozens of scenes, including quite a few in recent years that have been mesmerizing in their own right.

For my money, one of the most electric performances on daytime drama for all time was rendered by Academy Award winner Kim Hunter in her final episode on The Edge of Night as faded film star Nola Madison.  For your consideration, I have posted the meatiest scene — the episode's second act, featuring the confrontation between Nola and rival Margo — at the top of this entry, but the two brilliant scenes that follow are at the end of this entry with some additional background after the jump. READ MORE