Marlena Evans is a fictional character on the NBC daytime drama, Days
of Our Lives, a long-running serial about working life in the
fictional town of Salem. She has been played by actress Deidre Hall
since 1976, but the character was absent from the show from 1987 to
March 1991 and again from January 2009 to September 2011. Marlena was
created by scriptwriter Pat Falken Smith and executive producer Betty
Corday, and has become one of Days of our Lives' most well-known
characters. Hall made her debut on the soap on June 21, 1976,
currently making her the second longest running actress on the serial,
surpassed only by Suzanne Rogers (Maggie).Throughout the course of her
existence on the program, she has experienced what some consider to be
the most outrageous circumstances of any character in soap opera
history. These would include possession by the devil; a plummet from a
30-story-window (which she survived); being used as a surrogate for
genetically engineered babies, Rex and Cassie, during a four-year
coma, where she was presumed dead after being involved in a plane
crash; being mind-controlled to believe she was a serial killer; and
becoming pregnant late in life and suffering a miscarriage, which
caused her to have hysterical amnesia. She has also been kidnapped
numerous times over the past 30 years. She is a doctor, wife, mother,
twin, grandmother and great-grandmother.Marlena is a staple in the US
press during her time on Days of Our Lives, a representative of the
symbiosis between American's soaps and tabloid soap magazines. Widely
read tabloids, such as Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly, would
routinely publish forthcoming developments in Marlena's storylines.
Marlena was well received by critics, and is notable for her popular
pairing with John Black. The character is well-known even outside of
the show's viewer-base. In 2010, Sheri Anderson (a former head writer
for Days) began writing books about off-screen characters from the
soap. John and Marlena were included in one called A Secret in
Salem.Marlena was introduced as a guest character in June 1976, by
executive producer Betty Corday. The show decided to cast actress
Deidre Hall, who was already known in the soap world for her role as
Barbara on The Young and the Restless. The character was brought in as
the psychiatrist of already established character â€" Mickey Horton.
This puts her in close contact with the soap's core family, The
Hortons. This also allows her to meet her first new lover in Salem,
Don Craig (Mickey's assistant). Specifically, she played a key role in
a storyline involving her twin sister, Samantha Evans (who was played
by Hall's real life twin, Andrea Hall) at the same sanitarium Mickey
was committed to. The character proved to be popular, and they decided
to put her on contract. Marlena eventually started a relationship with
Roman Brady, who established her to a core family on the show, the
Brady family. In the 1980s, Hall had decided to explore primetime. She
landed the lead role on the family oriented series, Our House, and
guest starred on other prime time hits such as Wiseguy and Columbo.
She left Days of Our Lives after her primetime and daytime schedule
became too hard to balance. In 1991 (after the primetime series
ended), Hall began to miss daytime's creative outlet, and returned to
the show that same year. Her return prompted a 10% increase in the
Nielsen ratings for the soap.
of Our Lives, a long-running serial about working life in the
fictional town of Salem. She has been played by actress Deidre Hall
since 1976, but the character was absent from the show from 1987 to
March 1991 and again from January 2009 to September 2011. Marlena was
created by scriptwriter Pat Falken Smith and executive producer Betty
Corday, and has become one of Days of our Lives' most well-known
characters. Hall made her debut on the soap on June 21, 1976,
currently making her the second longest running actress on the serial,
surpassed only by Suzanne Rogers (Maggie).Throughout the course of her
existence on the program, she has experienced what some consider to be
the most outrageous circumstances of any character in soap opera
history. These would include possession by the devil; a plummet from a
30-story-window (which she survived); being used as a surrogate for
genetically engineered babies, Rex and Cassie, during a four-year
coma, where she was presumed dead after being involved in a plane
crash; being mind-controlled to believe she was a serial killer; and
becoming pregnant late in life and suffering a miscarriage, which
caused her to have hysterical amnesia. She has also been kidnapped
numerous times over the past 30 years. She is a doctor, wife, mother,
twin, grandmother and great-grandmother.Marlena is a staple in the US
press during her time on Days of Our Lives, a representative of the
symbiosis between American's soaps and tabloid soap magazines. Widely
read tabloids, such as Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly, would
routinely publish forthcoming developments in Marlena's storylines.
Marlena was well received by critics, and is notable for her popular
pairing with John Black. The character is well-known even outside of
the show's viewer-base. In 2010, Sheri Anderson (a former head writer
for Days) began writing books about off-screen characters from the
soap. John and Marlena were included in one called A Secret in
Salem.Marlena was introduced as a guest character in June 1976, by
executive producer Betty Corday. The show decided to cast actress
Deidre Hall, who was already known in the soap world for her role as
Barbara on The Young and the Restless. The character was brought in as
the psychiatrist of already established character â€" Mickey Horton.
This puts her in close contact with the soap's core family, The
Hortons. This also allows her to meet her first new lover in Salem,
Don Craig (Mickey's assistant). Specifically, she played a key role in
a storyline involving her twin sister, Samantha Evans (who was played
by Hall's real life twin, Andrea Hall) at the same sanitarium Mickey
was committed to. The character proved to be popular, and they decided
to put her on contract. Marlena eventually started a relationship with
Roman Brady, who established her to a core family on the show, the
Brady family. In the 1980s, Hall had decided to explore primetime. She
landed the lead role on the family oriented series, Our House, and
guest starred on other prime time hits such as Wiseguy and Columbo.
She left Days of Our Lives after her primetime and daytime schedule
became too hard to balance. In 1991 (after the primetime series
ended), Hall began to miss daytime's creative outlet, and returned to
the show that same year. Her return prompted a 10% increase in the
Nielsen ratings for the soap.
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