Sheryl Lynn Herring (born September 22, 1958) is an American

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as

Lucy Coe Lucy Coe is a fictional character from the ABC Daytime soap operas '' General Hospital'' and ''Port Charles''. Portrayed by Lynn Herring, she first appeared in April 1986 on ''General Hospital'', introduced as an alibi in a murder plot. In 1997, ...

on the long-running soap opera ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'' which she has played on and off since 1986.

Early life

Herring was born in

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, a ...

. Before acting, Herring was

Miss Virginia USA The Miss Virginia USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Virginia in the Miss USA pageant. Virginia has been only moderately successful in terms of number of semi-finalists. They have had two Miss USAs. ...

1977, and was 4th runner-up to

Kimberly Tomes Kimberly Louise Tomes (born August 20, 1955) is a beauty queen from Texas who has held Miss USA title. Tomes won the Miss Texas USA title in 1976 and later represented Texas in the Miss USA 1977 pageant held in Charleston, South Carolina. In the ...

for the title of

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

1977. She earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in psychology from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

, where she was also a member of

Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta (), also known as Tri Delta, is an international women's fraternity founded on November 27, 1888 at Boston University by Sarah Ida Shaw, Eleanor Dorcas Pond, Isabel Morgan Breed, and Florence Isabelle Stewart. Tri Delta part ...

sorority.

Acting career

Herring is best known for her work in

daytime television Daytime is a block of television programming taking place during the late-morning and afternoon on weekdays. Daytime programming is typically scheduled to air between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., following the early morning d ...

, first portraying the role of mousy

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

Lucy Coe on ''

'' in 1986. Over time, Lucy became much more glamorous and man-hungry, and the role proved to be very lucrative for Herring. She left after six years to explore other opportunities, which led to a role on ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

''. Her character, Lisanne Gardner, was never fully developed, and Herring asked to be let out of her contract with the show. ''Days'' producers agreed, and she then returned to ''General Hospital''. She played Lucy on ''General Hospital'' until 1997, when she was asked to reprise her character on a spin-off series called ''

Port Charles ''Port Charles'' (commonly abbreviated as ''PC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from June 1, 1997, to October 3, 2003. It was a spin-off of the series ''General Hospital'', which has been running since 1963 and takes pl ...

''. She appeared on the series until it was canceled in 2003, and subsequently made a brief return to ''General Hospital'' in 2004. She joined the cast of ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

'' on July 24, 2009 as Audrey Coleman. On November 2, 2012, after more than eight years off-screen, it was announced that Herring would return to ''General Hospital'' as Lucy in December. She first aired on December 17.

Personal life

Herring married actor

Wayne Northrop Wayne Alan Northrop (born April 12, 1947) is an American actor known for his parts in soap operas such as ''Dynasty'' and ''Days of Our Lives''. Career Northrop portrayed chauffeur Michael Culhane on ''Dynasty'' from the pilot episode, " Oil" (1 ...

on May 9, 1981 in

Jennings, Louisiana Jennings is a city in, and the parish seat of, Jefferson Davis Parish, Louisiana, United States, near Lake Charles. The population was 10,383 at the 2010 census, a small decline from the 2000 tabulation. The city is 68 percent white. Jennings i ...

. They have two sons: Hank Wayne, born on January 9, 1991, and Grady Lee, born on July 20, 1993, in Los Angeles, CA. Northrop and Herring own and run a working cattle ranch in the

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera. Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...

area of

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

. In a February 2007 interview, Herring's former co-star

Kin Shriner Kin Shriner (born December 6, 1953) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Scott Baldwin on the ABC soap opera ''General Hospital'' and its spin-off, '' Port Charles''. Early life Shriner and his twin brother, actor Wil Shriner, ...

said of Herring: "She's living a life that most women would love. She's going to restore an old train depot on land up where she lives and bring it back to a sort of museum quality. She's lobbying. She's back at school. She's working with animals. She's got her two boys. She's like

Barbara Stanwyck Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...

in ''

The Big Valley ''The Big Valley'' is an American Western drama television series that originally aired from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969 on ABC. The series is set on the fictional Barkley Ranch in Stockton, California, from 1884 to 1888. The one-hour e ...

''. She's running the whole town."

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herring, Lynn 1958 births Living people 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Oklahoma American soap opera actresses Louisiana State University alumni Miss USA 1970s delegates Actors from Enid, Oklahoma 21st-century American women