Veteran TV Actress Marla Adams Dead at 85

The actress' cause of death and other details have not been released.

By Michael Hein

Emmy Award-winning actress Marla Adams passed away on Thursday, April 25 at the age of 85, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Adams had a long run on the soap opera The Young and the Restless, and it was her colleague there, Matt Kane, who shared news of her passing with the public. She died in Los Angeles, but the circumstances have not been reported.

Adams was born on Aug. 28, 1938 in Ocean City, New Jersey and pursued acting from a young age. She made her Broadway debut in 1958 and her film debut in 1961, but she was best known for her work on TV. That may be because of the sheer number of her performances there – Adams began playing the character Dina Abbott Mergeron on The Young and the Restless in 1982, and appeared in a total of 235 episodes over the course of five decades. The role even won her a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2021.

CBS Daytime Emmy Awards After Party – Arrivals
(Photo: Leon Bennett / Getty Images)

Fans might also remember Adams for playing Belle Clemens on The Secret Storm from 1968 until 1974. In a 2016 interview looking back on her career, she joked: "I was the b- of daytime. I played a good b-." Adams had roles on other daytime dramas as well, including The Bold and the Beautiful and Days of Our Lives, though non lasted quite as long.

Adams initially had a three-year contract on The Young and the Restless, and she left when it was over. She returned for brief stints over the years – in 1991, 1996 and 2008 – but her longest run started in 2017. Looking back on that call in a 2020 interview, Adams said that Dina's longevity had been as much a surprise to her as to anyone else.

"I remember when [head writer Sally Sussman told her], 'I'm going to bring you back on The Young and the Restless, but you've got Alzheimer's,' and I said, 'What!? You're bringing me back so you can kill me off? And she said 'Oh no, it'll be about a year. That dissolved into four years."

Dina was often a chaotic force in the series, upending the lives of her children and her ex-husband whenever she came back into the story. That made it all the more surprising when Adams was able to make her final years on the series so heartbreaking to watch. When accepting her Emmy, she said: "From all the characters I've played, from The Secret Storm to Broadway, this has been the most astonishing, amazing part I've had the privilege to play."

Adams is survived by two children, two grandchildren and one great-grandson. Her long-time colleagues and fans are also mourning in the wake of her death.

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