Early life

Evans, the second of three daughters, was born Linda Evenstad in Hartford, Connecticut to Arlene (née Dart; 1917-1969) and Alba Evenstad (1904-1958), both of whom were professional dancers. "Evenstad" was the name of the small farm in Nes, Hedmark in Norway from where her paternal great-grandmother emigrated to the United States in 1884 with her young son (Evans' grandfather) and a couple of relatives. When Evans was six months old, the family moved from Hartford to North Hollywood. She attended Hollywood High School, where she was a sorority sister of future actress Carole Wells. Her introduction to drama came through classes that she took "as a form of therapy, to cure her of her shyness." When she started her professional career, she changed her last name to "Evans".

Career

Evans' first guest-starring role was on a 1960 episode of Bachelor Father, which starred her future screen husband, John Forsythe. She would co-star with him 20 years later on Dynasty. After several guest roles in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet between 1960-62, and guest appearances on television series such as Wagon Train and Outlaws, Evans gained her first regular role in 1965 in The Big Valley. Playing Audra Barkley, daughter of Victoria Barkley (played by Barbara Stanwyck), Evans was credited in the series until it ended in 1969, though she was only a semi-regular castmember during the last two seasons.

On December 31, 1967, John Derek recruited his wife to operate one of his cameras after he had been commissioned by daredevil Evel Knievel to film his motorcycle jump of the fountains at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. It was Evans who captured the iconic images of Knievel's devastating crash as the jump failed.

Throughout the 1970s, Evans continued to appear on television largely in guest roles. She appeared in a slew of detective shows such as The Rockford Files, Mannix, Harry O, Banacek, McCloud and McMillan & Wife. In 1977, she starred with James Franciscus and Ralph Bellamy in the espionage drama series Hunter, though the show lasted for only 13 episodes.

In films, Evans co-starred with Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw in a 1979 thriller, Avalanche Express, and in 1980 she co-starred in one of Steve McQueen's final films, the western Tom Horn.

Then came her breakthrough role in television. In 1980, Evans was cast as John Forsythe's wife, Krystle Carrington, in Aaron Spelling's opulent new primetime soap opera, Dynasty. Intended as ABC Television's answer to the hit CBS series Dallas, the show first aired in January 1981. Although initially sluggish in the ratings, audience figures improved after the show was revamped and British actress Joan Collins was brought in to play opposite Evans and Forsythe as the evil Alexis Carrington. By the 1984-85 season, Dynasty was the number one show on American television, even outranking Dallas.

Audiences became enthralled by the onscreen rivalry and infamous catfights between Krystle and Alexis, and Evans and Collins became two of the most celebrated television stars of the decade. 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 also 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, Evans appeared in an ad campaign for Crystal Light beverages, starting in 1984.

She left Dynasty in 1989, four months before the series came to an end. After leaving Dynasty Evans semi-retired from acting and made only occasional television appearances. Instead, she devoted her time to fitness issues and set up a small chain of fitness centers. In the 1990s, Evans hosted infomercials for Rejuvenique, a mask for toning facial muscles. She had previously written the Linda Evans Beauty and Exercise book in 1983.

In 1991, she returned to the role of Krystle Carrington for the television miniseries Dynasty: The Reunion. Following this, she appeared in three made-for-TV movies in the 1990s, but then retired from screen acting altogether in 1997.

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.

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 program Hell's Kitchen, working under Michelin-starred chef Marco Pierre White.

Evans has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6834 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Personal life

In her late teens, Evans was engaged to Patrick Curtis, who later became a press agent and married Raquel Welch. Evans has been married and divorced twice. Her first marriage was to actor, photographer and film director John Derek. They married in 1968 and separated in 1974 when Derek disclosed his affair with Bo Derek, who was 30 years his junior, and was 16 years old when the relationship began. Evans' second marriage was to Stan Herman, a property executive, from 1975 to 1980. In 1989, she began a relationship with new age musician Yanni, which lasted until 1998. She is close with her ex-stepdaughter Sean Catherine Derek, who has a summer house next to Evans' property in Washington state, and with John's Europe-based second wife, Ursula Andress, a frequent houseguest at her home in Beverly Hills.

After being diagnosed with idiopathic edema, Evans began investigating alternative healing, delving into Eastern philosophy and naturopathy. In 1985, she became involved with controversial metaphysical teacher J. Z. Knight and her Ramtha's School of Enlightenment and eventually moved to Rainier, Washington to be closer to Knight and her school.

Evans appeared in Playboy magazine at the behest of her then-husband John Derek in 1971. As she gained tremendous fame on Dynasty, the photos were published a second time in 1982.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1963	Twilight of Honor	Alice Clinton
1965	Those Calloways	Bridie Mellott
1965	Beach Blanket Bingo	Sugar Kane
1969	Childish Things	Pat Jennings
1974	The Klansman	Nancy Poteet
1975	Mitchell	Greta
1979	Avalanche Express	Elsa Lang
1980	Tom Horn	Glendolene Kimmel

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Bachelor Father	Liz McGavin	Episode: "A Crush on Bentley"
1960-1962	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	Various	5 episodes
1962	Outlaws	Daughter	Episode: "All in a Day's Work"
1962	The Untouchable	Gert Littlesmith	Episode: "The Ginnie Littlesmith Story"
1962	Buttons and Her Beaus	Buttons	TV Movie
1963	The Eleventh Hour	Joan Clayton	Episode: "Where Ignorant Armies Clash"
1963	The Lieutenant	Nan Hiland	Episode: "The Two Star Giant"
1964	Dr. Kildare	Student Nurse #1	Episode: "A Nickel's Worth of Prayer"
1965	Wagon Train	Martha Temple	Episode: "Herman"
1965	My Favorite Martian	Sally Farrow	Episode: "Martin's Favorite Martian"
1965-1969	The Big Valley	Audra Barkley	Series regular, 112 episodes
1973	Female Artillery	Charlotte Paxton	TV Movie
1973	McCloud	Geri March	Episode: "Butch Cassidy Rides Again"
1974	Banacek	Cherry Saint-Saens	Episode: "Rocket to Oblivion"
1974	Mannix	Lorna	Episode: "The Ragged Edge"
1974	Nakia	Samantha Lowell	TV movie (pilot for TV series Nakia)
1974	Harry O	Marian Sawyer	Episode: "Guardian at the Gates"
1975	McMillan & Wife	Nicole Avery	Episode: "Night Train to L.A."
1975	The Big Rip-Off		TV Movie
1975	The Rockford Files	Claire Prescott / Audrey Wyatt	Episodes: "Claire" and "The Farnsworth Stratagem"
1977	Hunter	Marty Shaw	Series regular, 13 episodes
1978	Nowhere to Run	Amy Kessler	TV Movie
1978	Standing Tall	Jill Shasta	TV Movie
1981-1989	Dynasty	Krystle Grant Jennings Carrington Rita Lesley	Series regular, 204 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama (1982) People's Choice Awards for Favorite Female TV Performer (1983-1986) People's Choice Awards for Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Program (1982) Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Actress in a Prime Time (1984-1985) Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1983) Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama (1983-1986) Nominated — Soap Opera Digest Award for Favorite Super Couple: Prime Time (1986, 1989)
1981	The Fall Guy	Herself	Episode: "Colt's Angels"
1982	Bare Essence	Bobbi Rowan	TV Movie
1981-1984	The Love Boat	Various	7 episodes
1983	Kenny Rogers as The Gambler: The Adventure Continues	Kate Muldoon	TV Movie
1984	Glitter	Herself	Episode: "Pilot"
1986	North and South, Book II	Rose Sinclair	TV Mini-Series
1986	The Last Frontier	Kate Hannon	TV Mini-Series
1990	She'll Take Romance	Jane McMillan	TV Movie
1991	Dynasty: The Reunion	Krystle Grant Jennings Carrington	TV Mini-Series
1991	The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw	Kate Muldoon	TV Movie
1995	Dazzle	Sylvie Norberg Kilkullen	TV Movie
1997	The Stepsister	Joan Curtis Shaw Canfield	TV Movie
1997	European Soundmix Show	Host

Charities

Linda Evans supports the following charitable cause: Animals.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]