No look at the history of One Life to Live would be complete without Andrea Evans' Tina Lord Roberts. Evans, who passed away this week at the age of 66 due to breast cancer, made her daytime debut as Tina Lord on ABC's One Life to Live in 1979. She would go on to have four different stints as Tina on the New York-based soap, from 1978 to 1981, 1985 to 1990, and returning for guest appearances in 2008 and 2011.
While the role of Tina was recast on two occasions, first with actress Karen Witter in 1990, and later, by Krista Tesreau in 1994, it was Evans who fans most associated with the iconic role. Her return to the show in 2008 was a hot topic among veteran soap fans that hadn't seen Evans as Tina in almost 20 years.
Evans' death has affected many in the daytime community, including former OLTL head writer Ron Carlivati. Carlivati, who is currently head writer at Peacock's Days of Our Lives, took to Instagram this week to share some poignant memories of his time working with Evans.
Carlivati's tribute prompted Soap Central to put together five memorable storylines that featured Evans as OLTL's Tina throughout the actress' combined 30-plus years on-screen.
In June 2008, Tina resurfaced in Llanview after the famed Crown Jewels of Mendorra had been stolen a month earlier. Tina had been living off-screen as the Crown Princess of Mendorra, and during her return to Llanview, she was shown to reconnect with her daughter Sarah and Sarah's boyfriend Cristian Vega.
Tina's return turned into a months-long affair, during which she was forced to watch history repeat itself when Sarah was sent over the treacherous Hohenstein Falls in Mendorra at the behest of madman and longtime nemesis Carlo Hesser, who still blamed Tina for his son Johnny Dee's death in 1990. The scene mirrored Tina's own fall over the Iguazu Falls in 1987.
The original stunt occurred over 20 years earlier after Tina had already met future husband and soul mate Cord Roberts. Cord's mother, Maria, who had given birth to Cord after an affair with Clint Buchanan, had brought her friend Max Holden to Llanview to keep Tina away from Cord.
While pregnant with Cord's baby, and believing that Cord didn't care for either Tina or the baby, Tina left Llanview with Max for Buenos Aires. Cord followed Tina and Max to Argentina, only to find the two mixed up in a local drug ring. In one of soaps' most iconic moments, a captive Tina fell over the falls in a raft. She and her unborn baby were presumed dead.
By April 1987, the audience knew that Tina was alive and being cared for by a band of natives in Argentina. Still, it wasn't until some weeks later that Tina returned to Llanview as only Tina could. Appearing at a chapel, where she stunned Cord and Kate Sanders, who had just been married moments earlier, Tina held in her arms a baby that she said was Max's infant son with Gabrielle Medina. As things turned out, the child was her own son with Cord. Tina and Cord eventually named their son Clinton James Roberts ("C.J.") after Clint.
Before there was Ross Gellar from Friends, there was Tina Lord. Tina was set to marry Max in 1988, but she harbored feelings for both Max and Cord. Seconds before Tina and Max were scheduled to exchange their vows, Tina daydreamed of marrying both men. Later, in front of an entire room of guests, Tina said Cord's name aloud instead of Max's. Tina tried to continue with the wedding, but Max said that everyone had heard Tina's snafu and that he couldn't go through with the marriage. Soon afterwards, Tina married Cord in a double ceremony with Cord's grandfather Asa Buchanan and Asa's bride Renee.
With One Life to Live nearing the end of its run on ABC in late 2011, Tina and Cord were two familiar faces to return to Llanview one last time. And after years of being separated from her closest loved ones, Tina started to rekindle her old flame with Cord. The two were married in a mid-November wedding that was originally scheduled between Tina's niece Natalie and the suspected father of Natalie's baby, Brody Lovett. Natalie and Brody never married, but Cord decided that someone had to be married that day, and he proposed to Tina.
Tina accepted on the spot, and she and Cord married after Viki agreed to be Tina's matron of honor and Clint agreed to be Cord's best man. The occasion not only marked Cord and Tina's latest and last wedding to one another, but it also cemented how far Tina and Viki had repaired their relationship after years of mistrust.
What is your favorite memory of Tina from One Life to Live? We want to hear from you -- and there are many ways you can share your thoughts.
