Let’s just get this out of the way: Linda Evans has no need to unsheath her claws on Joan Collins, her former “Dynasty” co-star and catfight opponent extraordinaire.
“We all have different realities, right? My reality is I am so grateful that she was in my life and was a part of that show,” Evans says of the woman who played Alexis to her Krystle. “I was thrilled they hired her because I thought she did a hell of a good job.”
Prior to looking back on her life in front of a packed house last week at the Crest Theatre in Delray Beach, Evans spoke to “The Palm Beach Post” from her bed at the Ritz-Carlton in Fort Lauderdale. Lying down on the job? No, just resting a bad back.
“I’m 71, and I’ve never had back pain before, and this is really new to me,” said Evans, who’s taken up yoga and water therapy to address the aches. “You name it, I’m doing it.”
Her blond mane is now a brilliant silver, and the blue-eyed, high-cheekboned Evans is still a beauty. But the longtime face of Clairol wants women to remember it takes a village of stylists to create Hollywood glamour and gloss.
“I was on ‘Harper’s Bazaar’’s list of the 10 most beautiful women in the world for three years in a row,” she said. “And I would look at the mirror in the morning, and say, ‘That isn’t the truth.’ It’s just not realistic.”
Born in Hartford, Conn., but a North Hollywood, Calif., resident before she could walk, Evans says her life didn’t unfold as planned. “All I wanted was to be a wife and mom.”
But her father died when Evans was 15, and her mother went on Social Security to support Evans and her two sisters. Around the same time, Evans began landing work in commercials. “The worst things in my life turned out to be a gift saying, ‘Come on’,” she says. “I know now that life is always working out for me.”
She made her acting debut in 1960 in an episode of “Bachelor Father,” which starred John Forsythe, who would play her husband more than 20 years later on “Dynasty.”
Next came guest parts on “The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet,” “The Untouchables” and “Wagon Train,” and the role of Sugar Kane in “Beach Blanket Bingo.”
Then, her breakthrough: She tested with Lee Majors for “Big Valley,” and both of them were cast in the late 1960s Western series about the well-to-do Barkley family.
From the moment Evans met Barbara Stanwyck, who played her mother on the show, “She called me Audra. I was never Linda to her. Never, ever, ever,” says Evans. “What a blessing for me, so young, 23, to be working with a legend. She was so dear. … My mom died while I was on the show, and (Stanwyck) said, ‘I’ll never replace your mom, but I’ll be your mom from now on and take care of you.”
Stanwyck also taught Evans how to do stunt work, which the older actress relished. “She’d come to work and say, ‘Look, we’ve got the runaway buggy today!’ So when ‘Dynasty’ came along, I thought, ‘I’m ready!’”
At her Crest lecture, Evans also dished on some of the men in her life:
On ex-husband John Derek: When Derek told Evans in 1972 that he was leaving her for a teenager named Mary Cathleen Collins (the perfect "10" whom the world would later know as "Bo"), "In that moment, my life completely changed," Evans said. "I wanted to die." Instead, she eventually vowed to get back to work, although it would take many years before her TV career would take off again.
On former lover Yanni: Evans fell in love at first sight with the Greek composer and keyboardist, who has a home in Manalapan. "I wanted to say, 'Where have you been all my life?' … It was nine magical years. I had the most magical time with this beautiful man."
On Steve McQueen, who co-starred with her in the 1980 western "Tom Horn": "He was so amazing. Sometimes when we were doing a scene, I was so blown away by something he did that I would forget I was working with him."
Although she still owns a home in Beverly Hills – “Thanks to (‘Dynasty’ producer) Aaron Spelling, I never have to work again” – many years ago Evans moved to a 70-acre spread in Washington state.
“One of the reasons I moved up there was so I could have a real life,” she says. “I stayed up late at night. I ate. I gained 25 pounds. I could go to the market in my jeans. That’s freedom!”
Evans stressed to the largely female audience at the Crest that age itself can bring a certain kind of freedom.
“When you get older and you get rid of the hormones and all that stuff, there’s this kind of wonderful release from having to be a certain way and look a certain way,” she said. “I’m hoping women will recognize that all seasons in their lives are valuable.”
