Andrea Evans dead at 66: Soap fans mourn Emmy-nominated star of One Life To Live after cancer death
VETERAN daytime television actress Andrea Evans, who starred in the soap opera drama One Life To Live, has died at age 66.
Evans died on Sunday of cancer, casting director Don Carroll revealed to Deadline.
Born in Aurora, Illinois, Evans appeared in several daytime television soap operas, including The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, and NBC’s Passions.
Most recently, she appeared on Amazon Prime’s The Bay.
However, she was recognized for her role as troublemaking teen Tina Lord in the ABC series One Life To Live.
She continued portraying the mischief teen until 1981, and two years later landed a role as Patty Williams, the wife of Jack Abbott in The Young and the Restless.
She reprised her role as Tina Lord in 1985 when she returned to One Life To Live, and ultimately sent her character’s popularity soaring.
Evans was nominated for the Oustanding Ingenue Daytime Emma Award in 1988 for her role in One Life To Live.
From 1986 to 1990, Evans graced the cover of Soap Opera Digest.
She abruptly quit the show and disappeared from the public eye in 1990, revealing 10 years later that she had been the victim of a stalker.
The One Life To Live actress told People magazine in 2008 that she left her career and moved out of her home in New York City after her stalker’s actions grew more violent.
She revealed to the outlet that in 1987, she was aggressively approached by a man in the lobby of a Manhattan studio.
The man showed up several times at the set’s location and, in one incident, slashed his wrists on the front steps of the studio, she told the outlet.
“All of a sudden, I went from a nice happy-go-lucky life to having regular conversations with the police,” Evans told The Associated Press at the time.
“This was before people were that aware. There was a great disbelief that here this man was trying to harm me, and the police could do nothing about it.”
After being taken to a psychiatric hospital, the man listed Evans as his next of kin and began sending her death threats written in blood.
Years after the incident, the man was detained outside the Secretary of State’s office in Washington, DC, carrying a meat cleaver and a picture of Evans, according to People.
The fear “forever changed me. There’s no way it could not,” she told the outlet.
Evans eventually began taking up roles again and returned to her famous role on One Life To Live in 2008 and 2011.
She received her second Daytime Emmy nomination in 2015 for her performance in the web series DeVanity.
Evans is survived by her husband, Steve, and daughter, Kylie.