Soap Vixen Tina Returns to 'One Life to Live'

June 9, 2008— -- Andrea Evans portrayed bad girl Tina Lord Roberts on ABC's "One Life To Live" from 1978 to 1990, and then abruptly left the show. On June 11, Evans -- and Tina -- will return to OLTL in a homecoming that fans have been hoping for years.

"No matter what show I went to, no matter what other work I did or even in my own personal life, people want me to come back to "One Life To Live," Evans told ABC News Radio. "And at some point, I had to honor their wishes."

Evans' abrupt exit from "One Life To Live" in 1990 was not brought on by a disagreement with the show's producers or creative differences, but something much more serious: a stalker threatened her life.

A few years back, Evans told the Associated Press, "All of a sudden, I went from a happy-go-lucky life to having regular conversations with the police. This was before people were that aware. There was a great disbelief that here this man was trying to harm me, and the police could do nothing about it."

At the time, Evans kept the incident quiet, and though the stalker was never brought to justice, she later spoke out about it. "Fortunately some good did come out of it," Evans said. "I was able to help by publicizing it, to help get better stalking laws enforced. I think that's another reason I was thrilled to be at 'One Life To Live,' to kind of bring the whole situation…full circle."

Returning to a character she has not played for close to 20 years presented a challenge for Evans, who turns 51 this month -- at first. "I was a little nervous about how I was even going to portray Tina, if I was going to remember all her little quirks and things," Evans said.

Her fears were unfounded, she says. "The minute I walked into the building and I got into costume," Evans noted, "it just slipped on like an old comfortable glove."

So how does Tina Lord Roberts fit into the current plot of the show? Evans teased, "Tina has gone through some life-changing experiences and she's going to come in Llanview in a big showy way that only Tina can reappear in. They've done a fabulous job of giving me a storyline I think fans will truly love."

Evans says that after all these years, the character of Tina still holds a lot of appeal for fans. "I think Tina is a very multi-faceted character," she said. "She's clearly a vixen, she's a bad girl, but at the same time, she has good intentions. She just kind of sees her way, and that's all she sees. But she never really thinks she's doing anything bad. I think in some ways she's very much an underdog, and people always root for the underdog."