Tributes poured in for TV soap opera legend Andrea Evans Monday, who lost her battle with breast cancer over the weekend at the age of 66, her manager confirmed.
“I’ve been working with Andrea for the past 7 years,” Evans’ manager Nich Leicht told People. “She was such a tremendous talent and an absolute joy to work with.”
Evans rose to daytime television fame in the 1970’s and 80’s. She was perhaps best known for her role as Tina Lord on One Life to Live, which earned her a Daytime Emmy nomination in 1988.
ADVERTISEMENT
“This is heartbreaking news. Andrea was a kind woman, fun to work with, and such a pro,” a statement read on the official Facebook page of Melissa Jean Archer, best known for her portrayal of Natalie Buchanan on One Life to Live.
“I feel so fortunate that I was able to play with her on OLTL and The Bay the Series. Sending love to all our soap family and Andrea’s real family. World lost a good one.”
Following her breakout role, Evans went on to land characters on The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Passions, and Amazon Prime’s The Bay. She also appeared in feature films A Low Down Dirty Shame, Ice Cream Man, Hit List and several straight-to-TV movies.
Passions co-star Eric Martsolf said Evans “was wildly responsible for showing me that working in Daytime doesn’t have to feel like work at all.”
“I will miss the sparkle in her eyes when she smiled, which was seemingly all the time.”
Evans’ former PR representative Paul Shefrin mourned the loss of the beloved actress as well, posting a lengthy statement to Facebook calling her “one of the nicest people I ever worked with.”
“My sincerest condolences to her husband Steve and daughter Kylie. She will be missed.”
Born in Aurora, Illinois, Evans appeared in beauty pageants, regional theater productions and commercials. After graduating high school, she attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she eventually landed her first big gigs in 1978 as an extra on The Fury and a named character in The Awakening Land miniseries.
From there, she caught the eye of soap opera casting director Mary Jo Slater, who thrust her into her One Life to Live role and subsequent daytime TV stardom.
Evans removed herself from the public eye in the 1990s, revealing years later that she took a break from acting after being the victim of a terrifying stalker.
In a 2008 interview with People, Evans revealed that the stalker had accosted her in the lobby of One Life to Live’s studio, where he slashed his wrists on the front steps. He was later taken to a psychiatric hospital, and sent Evans letters containing death threats written in blood.
Evans said the experience “forever changed me.”
“There’s no way it could not,” she said.
But Evans returned to her famed role on One Life to Live in 2008, then again in 2011.
“It’s time to give the audience what they want,” she said of her return. “And it’s time for me to get closure on why I left in the first place.”
Evans is survived by her husband of 25 years, Stephen Rodriguez, and her 19-year-old daughter Kylie.
