How much is Linda Evans worth?
| Net Worth: | $18 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional actress |
| Date of Birth: | 18 November 1942 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5′ 8″ |
About Linda Evans
Evans continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1970s, the most of which were in the form of guest roles. She had roles in a number of different detective shows, including The Rockford Files alongside James Garner, Mannix, Harry O alongside David Janssen, Banacek alongside George Peppard, McCloud alongside Dennis Weaver, and McMillan & Wife alongside Rock Hudson. Even though the spy drama series Hunter only aired for a total of thirteen episodes in 1977, she played a starring role in the series alongside James Franciscus and Ralph Bellamy.
Evans was the second of three daughters to be born to Arlene (née Dart) and Alba Evenstad, both of whom were professional dancers. Linda Evenstad was born on November 18, 1942, in Hartford, Connecticut, and was given the name Linda Evans.
Evenstad was the name of the little farm in Nes, Hedmark, Norway, from which her paternal great-grandmother came to the United States in 1884 with her young son (Evans’ grandpa) and a few relatives. The farm was named after her paternal great-grandfather. Carol Davidson and Kathy Evenstad are her two sisters, and they are her siblings. The Evans family uprooted from Hartford and settled in North Hollywood when Evans was just six months old.
Evans was engaged to Patrick Curtis when she was in her late teens. Curtis went on to become a press agent and married Raquel Welch. Evans broke off the engagement. Since then, Evans has gone through the process of getting married and then divorcing twice. John Derek, who had a career as an actor, photographer, and film director, was her first husband. They began dating in 1965, got married in 1968, and later divorced on Christmas Day in 1973 after Derek exposed his affair with Bo Derek, who was 30 years his junior at the time and was 17 years old.
It was not until an episode of Bachelor Father in 1960 that Evans made her debut as a guest star. The series was headlined by John Forsythe, who would go on to co-star with her on Dynasty twenty years later. Evans was given her first recurring role in a television series in 1965, and it was in The Big Valley. Prior to that, she had appeared in a number of episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet between the years 1960 and 1962, as well as in episodes of other television series like The Lieutenant and Wagon Train. Evans was credited in the series until it ended in 1969, playing the role of Audra Barkley, the daughter of Victoria Barkley, who was portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck. However, for the final two seasons of the show, she was just a semiregular cast member.
After receiving a request from the daredevil Evel Knievel to capture his motorcycle jump over the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on December 31, 1967, John Derek asked the woman who would later become his wife to handle one of his cameras so that he could complete the job. Evans took photographs of Knievel’s horrific fall after the jump attempt was unsuccessful.
Evans made a cameo appearance in the 1971 issue of Playboy magazine at the request of her then-husband, John Derek. The images were published for the second time in 1982, following her meteoric rise to prominence thanks to the television show Dynasty.
Between the years 1975 and 1979, Evans was married to Stan Herman, an executive in the property industry. After that, she moved in with George Santo Pietro, who owned a restaurant, and stayed there from 1980 till 1984. During the mid-1980s, Evans dated businessmen Richard Cohen (an ex-husband of Tina Sinatra) and Dennis Stein (a former fiancé of Elizabeth Taylor), in addition to dating The Big Valley castmate Lee Majors for a short period of time after her second divorce. Evans’s relationship with Yanni, a new-age artist, began in 1989 and continued until 1998. The couple divorced in 1998.
In the film industry, Evans played a supporting role alongside Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw in the 1979 suspense picture Avalanche Express, and the following year, in 1980, she played a supporting role in one of Steve McQueen’s final films, the Western Tom Horn. Next, Evans was cast as Krystle Carrington in Aaron Spelling’s lavish new primetime soap opera, Dynasty, which made its debut in the month of January 1981.
Dynasty was intended to be ABC’s response to Dallas, which was a hit on CBS, and featured Evans as the former secretary and new wife of millionaire oil tycoon Blake Carrington, who was portrayed by her former costar John Forsythe. Dallas was a hit on CBS, and Dynasty was intended to be ABC’s answer to Dallas.
Audience figures improved after the show was revamped and British actress Joan Collins was brought in to play opposite of Evans and Forsythe as Blake’s scheming ex-wife, Alexis Carrington. Initially, the show is ratings were sluggish, but they improved after the show was revamped and Joan Collins was brought in. After the 1984–1985 television season, Dynasty had surpassed Dallas to become the most popular show on American television.
Evans was recognized with a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Drama Series for her performance in the 1981 season of Dynasty. She went on to be nominated for the award each year from 1982 through 1985. In the year 1983, she was considered for a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
In 1982, People’s Choice awarded Evans the award for Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Program. In 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1986, People’s Choice awarded Evans the award for Favorite Female TV Performer. In 1984 and 1985, she was recognized as the Soap Opera Digest Award winner for Outstanding Lead Actress.
Evans started looking into alternative forms of therapy when she was given a diagnosis of idiopathic edema. Her research included digging into Eastern philosophy and naturopathy. She got engaged with the controversial metaphysical teacher J. Z. Knight and her Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment in 1985, and she finally moved to Rainier, Washington, to be closer to Knight and her school. J. Z. Knight is the founder of Ramtha’s School of Enlightenment. Evans presently resides with her sister, nephew, and former stepdaughter on a property that spans a total area of 70 acres (28 hectares).
Because of the name of her character, Crystal Light, Evans was recruited to be a spokesman for the brand of beverage. During the 1990s, Evans hosted informational commercials for a product called Rejuvenique, which was a mask designed to tone the face muscles. Before that, in 1983, she had written the Linda Evans Beauty and Exercise book. She also remained in contact with Forsythe up to the day he passed away on April 1, 2010, and the news of his passing left her inconsolable. At the age of 18, when she was auditioning for her first speaking role, Evans was introduced to John Forsythe for the first time.
Evans reprised her role as Krystle Carrington in the television miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion, which aired in 1991. After this, she was in three movies made specifically for television during the 1990s, and then in 1997, she officially retired from acting on the big screen.
In 2005, actress Melora Hardin played the role of Evans in the fictitious television movie Dynasty: The Making of a Guilty Pleasure. This movie was based on the conception of Dynasty as well as the production of the show behind the scenes.
Evans and the rest of her castmates from Dynasty got back together in 2006 for the nonfiction reunion special titled Dynasty: Catfights and Caviar. After that, she starred in the stage drama Legends, in which she was paired with her former adversary Collins. In 2009, Evans competed on and ultimately won the British television show Hell’s Kitchen, during which was mentored by chef Marco Pierre White, who held a Michelin star.
Evans is honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which can be seen in Hollywood, California, at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard.
In May of 2014, Evans was taken into custody for driving under the influence of a prescribed medication.
Summing-Up
In the 1960s, she appeared on the Western television series The Big Valley as Audra Barkley, the daughter of the character Victoria Barkley, who was portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck (1965–1969). She is best recognized for her performance as Krystle Carrington in the primetime soap opera Dynasty, which aired on ABC in the 1980s and in which she appeared from 1981 to 1989.
