Marla Adams was an actress best known for her Emmy winning-portrayal of the manipulative Dina Abbott Mergeron on daytime soap the “Young and the Restless,” a role she played on and off for five decades.
- Died: April 25, 2024 (Who else died on April 25?)
- Details of death: Died in Los Angeles at the age of 85.
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Marla Adams’ legacy
New Jersey-born Marla Adams attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and did stage work before landing her first screen role in 1961’s “Splendor in the Grass.” Her first dalliance with daytime soaps came two years later, in a brief appearance on “General Hospital.” Throughout the 1970s, she appeared on shows such as “Marcus Welby M.D.,” “Starsky and Hutch,” and “The Love Boat.”
Adams was best known for her long-running role on “The Young and the Restless.” Starting in 1983 and continuing through 2021, she played the scheming, manipulative mother Dina Abbott Mergeron in 235 episodes of the show, cementing herself as one of its most memorable villains. She was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 2018 for her work exploring a storyline in which Mergeron struggles with Alzheimer’s and was nominated again in 2021, this time winning.
Adams also had a notable run on “Days of Our Lives,” playing Claire McIntyre for 50 episodes in 1999, plus played Helen Mullin for two years on “Generations,” a short-lived NBC soap.
On playing a villain:
“When you play someone who’s mean, there has to be a vulnerability and the reasons why that person is the way she is because that’s what keeps her balanced.” — Interview with Soap Opera Digest, 2018
Tributes to Marla Adams
Full obituary: The Hollywood Reporter
