The Young And the Restless star Marla Adams, who featured on the soap opera on and off for nearly 40 years, has died at 85.
Over the course of 235 episodes, Marla became beloved by fans of the show as the conniving upper-crust matron Dina Abbott Mergeron.
After a long absence, she returned to the show in 2017 for a years-long arc that saw her character decline heartbreakingly with Alzheimer’s.
Her character was eventually killed off in 2021, and that year Marla earned a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance as Dina.
Matt Kane, The Young And The Restless’ director of media and talent, told The Hollywood Reporter that Marla died in Los Angeles on Thursday.
The Young And the Restless star Marla Adams, who featured on the soap opera on and off for nearly 40 years, has died at 85; pictured at the 2018 Daytime Emmys
Over the course of 235 episodes, Marla became beloved by fans of the show as the conniving upper-crust matron Dina Abbott Mergeron (pictured)
Marla was born and raised in Ocean City, New Jersey, where she caught the acting bug aged four while singing Santa Claus Is Coming To Town at church.
‘I tore the house down,’ she told her hometown paper with a laugh. ‘I decided then, at 4 years old, in the Methodist church, that I was going to become a movie star.’
She started off as a beauty queen, winning Miss Ocean City and reaching runner-up for Miss New Jersey, before studying at the American Academy Of Dramatic Art.
When she was just 19 years old, she found herself playing opposite two legends of the American stage, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
The Lunts, who became theatrical royalty acting together in various plays, were delivering their final joint performance in The Visit – with Marla in a supporting part.
Three years later, she was acting with the rising greats of Hollywood, appearing in Elia Kazan’s film Splendor In The Grass with Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty.
Marla, who played the high school gal pal of Natalie’s emotionally troubled character, recalled that the screen siren ‘was so drop-dead gorgeous.’
She soon made her bones in the soap opera world, playing ruthless characters on such series as General Hospital and The Secret Storm.
‘I was the b**** of daytime. I played a good b****,’ recalled Marla, who was the main villainess on The Secret Storm from 1968 to 1974.
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