Actress SUSAN LUCCI spent a year in "mourning" after Tv bosses cancelled her long-running American soap opera All My Children.

The show went off air last September (11) after 41 years on the small screen, and Lucci admits it has taken her a full 12 months to recover from the shock.

She tells the New York Post, "(I was) very sad. Disbelief, anger, tears, all of that. (It is) hard even now to say All My Children in the past tense. It was a dreadful mourning period. I was incredulous. (It) took (me) a year to get over it... I played Erica Kane (for) 41 years... Every day someone tells me they miss it."

Lucci also reveals the cancellation news came as such a shock to her, she didn't have time to take home any souvenirs from the set.

She adds, "There wasn't even time to collect mementos. I only managed to get a red and white T-shirt that read 'Free Erica Kane from jail'."