Nothing Is Better Than This 1985 Ad for Walnuts Featuring Soap Legend Susan Lucci

It’s 1985. You’re a walnut brand looking to imbue your grocery-store products with an aura of impossible glamour. What do you do? Obviously, you hire All My Children mainstay and living legend Susan Lucci to host a “World’s Richest Recipe” contest.

And that—best as I can figure—is why this full-page ad from a November 1985 McCall’s exists. Please note that Lucci is wearing the diamond necklace, bracelet and earrings they are offering for grand, first and second prizes.

A brief Google foray turns up an interview associated with the contest, in regional Connecticut newspaper The Hour. “The character I portray on the show is an aggressive, often manipulative woman,” she said, adding:

One of the reasons the part is so much fun for me is that she and I are so different. One thing we do have in common, though, is a taste for the finer things in life. Both of us would absolutely adore the $25,000 diamond necklace that will be given away as the grand prize in the Diamond Walnut World’s Richest Recipe Sweepstakes.

What a pro. And frankly the recipe she provided for pasta walnut vinaigrette looks pretty tasty. (“Susan says, ‘You can make it in a flash with ingredients you probably already have on hand. Serve it as a side dish or toss in cubed chicken or ham to make it into a main dish.’”)