Linda Evans

Linda Evans
at Carousel Ball in Denver
Born	Linda Evenstad November 18, 1942 (1942-11-18) (age 67) Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.
Spouse(s)	John Derek (1968-1974) Stan Herman (1976-1981)

Linda Evans (born on November 18, 1942) is an American actress known primarily for her roles on television. She rose to fame as Barbara Stanwyck's daughter, Audra Barkley, on the 1960s Western, The Big Valley (1965-1969). Evans' most prominent role was as Krystle Carrington on the 1980s ABC prime-time television soap opera Dynasty, a role she played from 1981-1989.

Career

She was born Linda Evenstad in Hartford, Connecticut. The name Evenstad is Norwegian and Linda Evans is of Norwegian descent.

Evans' first guest-starring role was on an episode of Bachelor Father, which starred her future series' lead, John Forsythe. She would co-star with him on Dynasty, as the wife of a oil multimillionaire more than two decades later. Before then, she co-starred opposite longtime actress Barbara Stanwyck on The Big Valley. During her third and fourth and final seasons on air, her screen time had been reduced, due to her new marriage with Derek, but was on the show for the entire run.

During the 1980s, Linda Evans and her Dynasty co-star, Joan Collins, became the two most celebrated female television stars of the decade, displaying an on-screen adversarial chemistry.^{[citation needed]} For her role as Krystle, Evans was nominated five times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a TV Drama series (every year from 1982 to 1986), winning in 1982 in a tie with Barbara Bel Geddes of rival soap Dallas. Evans won five People's Choice Awards as Favorite Actress in a Drama Series in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986, and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead actress in a Drama Series in 1983.

Due to her character's name on Dynasty, she starred in an ad campaign for Crystal Light beverages, starting in 1984.

Evans has been married twice. She was first married to actor and film producer John Derek from 1968 to 1974. Evans' second marriage was to Stan Herman, a property executive, from 1976 to 1981. In the 1990s Linda dated Yanni.

Regularly listed as one of the most beautiful women in America, she appeared in Playboy magazine at the behest of her then-husband John Derek in 1971, those photos published a second time in 1982 when she was turning forty.

Melora Hardin as Evans (with Bartholomew John as John Forsythe) in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure (2005)

For her contribution to the television industry, Linda Evans has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Blvd. After she left Dynasty, Evans semi-retired from acting and only made occasional television appearances. She now resides in Rainier, Washington, and owns a small chain of fitness centers. In the 1990s, Evans hosted infomercials for Rejuvenique, a mask for toning facial muscles. She also published the "Linda Evans Beauty and Exercise" book in 1983.

In 2005 actress Melora Hardin portrayed Evans in Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure, a fictionalized television movie based on the creation and behind the scenes production of Dynasty.^[1]

In 2006, Evans reunited with her Dynasty castmates for the non-fiction reunion special Dynasty: Catfights and Caviar. She then starred in the stage play Legends opposite her former Dynasty rival Collins.

In 2009, Evans appeared in and won the British TV programme Hell's Kitchen, working under Michelin-starred chef Marco Pierre White.^[2]

Filmography

• Twilight of Honor (1963)
• Those Calloways (1965)
• Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
• Childish Things (1969)
• The Klansman (1974)
• Mitchell (1975)
• Avalanche Express (1979)
• Tom Horn (1980)
• Trekkies (1997, documentary)

Television work

• Bachelor Father in episode "A Crush on Bentley" with future Dynasty co-star John Forsythe (1960)
• The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (5 episodes, 1960-1962)
• The Eleventh Hour as Joan Clayton in episode entitled "Where Ignornant Armies Clash" (1963)
• The Big Valley (1965-1969)
• Female Artillery (1973)
• Nakia (1974)
• The Rockford Files (first season) as Claire Prescott in episode "Claire" (1975)
• The Rockford Files (second season) as Audrey Wyatt in episode "The Farnsworth Strategem" (1975)
• The Big Rip-Off (1975)
• Hunter (1976, pilot for series)
• Hunter (1977, canceled after 8 episodes)
• Nowhere to Run (1978)
• Standing Tall (1978)
• Dynasty (1981-1989)
• Bare Essence (1982)
• Kenny Rogers as The Gambler: The Adventure Continues (1983)
• North and South, Book II (1986, miniseries)
• The Last Frontier (1986)
• She'll Take Romance (1990)
• Dynasty: The Reunion (1991)
• The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw (1991)
• Dazzle (1995)
• The Stepsister (1997)
• Hells Kitchen winner (UK) (2009)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Linda Evans

• Linda Evans at the Internet Movie Database
• Linda Evans infomercial for Rejuvenique
• Beyond The Ordinary interview with Linda Evans
• Linda Evans at TV.com
• Linda Evans at Allmovie