Tina Lord Roberts is a fictional character from the American daytime soap opera One Life to Live, originally and last played by Andrea Evans. The character is the daughter of original series patriarch Victor Lord, and sister to long-running characters Victoria Lord and Todd Manning.
Casting and popularity
1978–1990 The role was originated in 1978 by actress Andrea Evans, whose first stint lasted until 1981. The character was recast with Kelli Maroney in 1984 and then with Marsha Clark from 1984 to 1985. Evans returned in 1985 in a storyline credited with putting the series "back on course" and ultimately bringing Tina to her height of popularity. In July 1985, Nancy Frangione stepped into the role for two days while Evans was ill. Evans appeared on the cover of Soap Opera Digest five timesonce every year from 1986 to 1990and People magazine called her "Daytime's Diva of Dirt" in 1985. The series itself rose from #5 in the Nielsen ratings in the 1984–1985 season to #4 in the following season, soon going to #3 the next year, where it remained until the 1989–1990 season. In 1985, then-Executive Producer Paul Rauch noted of Evans, "She makes a tremendous difference to our show ... Her ability makes her go beyond the ordinary viper. In large part, she's responsible for the show's recent success." In 1988, Evans was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Ingenue for the role. Though "mega-popular" as Tina, Evans abruptly left the series on January 18, 1990. In 1993, Evans revealed she had left the series and the public eye because of a persistent stalker.
1990s recasts Tina was recast with former Playboy Playmate Karen Witter in 1990. The casting search to replace Evans was "one of the most expansive in soap history", and Witter beat out over 300 other hopefuls for the role. She had not watched One Life to Live or known Evans' popularity as Tina until she got the part. Witter's first airdate was May 10, 1990. Soap opera journalist Connie Passalacqua wrote that Witter represented "a more bearable Tina", and that her casting "added an actress with considerable dimension to the soap opera scene". Witter appeared on the August 14, 1990 cover of Soap Opera Weekly with co-star John Loprieno (who portrayed Tina's husband Cord Roberts), the February 5, 1991, and July 6, 1993, covers of Soap Opera Digest, and the July 28, 1992 cover of Soap Opera Magazine. In 1991, she was nominated for a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Female Newcomer. Witter played Tina for four years, until February 14, 1994.
Witter was succeeded in the role on July 6, 1994 by Krista Tesreau, known for her Daytime Emmy-nominated portrayal of "Tina twin" Mindy Lewis on CBS Guiding Light from 1983 to 1989. Tina was written off the show on June 12, 1996. Tesreau reappeared briefly in September and on December 24, 1996, and finally from January 21 to January 24, 1997, to facilitate the departure of John Loprieno.
Evans' returns Over a decade later, ABC announced in April 2008 that Evans would soon return as Tina. She reappeared onscreen on June 11, 2008. Executive Producer Frank Valentini noted, "Even though Andrea has not appeared on OLTL since 1990, she has remained among the most requested characters to return to the show ... I welcome her home to OLTL and to the role where she made an indelible mark on our audience."
One Life to Live celebrated its 40th anniversary in July 2008 with the return of several former cast members and by revisiting notable plotlines from its past. The series paid tribute to Tina's famous 1987 plunge over the Iguazu Falls in a storyline in which villain Carlo Hesser sends her daughter Sarah over a waterfall as well. Evans' imminent departure from the series was announced on November 5, 2008. Both Evans and ABC noted that the actress' return was always set to be short-term, as her "life, family and home" are in California while One Life to Live tapes in New York City. Valentini continued in a statement, "The character of Tina is a very important part of the OLTL canvas ... [If] there is an opportunity to have her Tina and Andrea return at a future date, the show would be happy to explore it." Evans added, "I had a fabulous time bringing Tina back to the show and certainly hope that the chance to take on the role manifests itself again." Her last appearance was on November 25, 2008.
On July 21, 2011, it was announced that Evans and John Loprieno would both reprise their roles as Tina and Cord respectively in September. Evans returned on September 27, 2011. She departed on November 15 of the same year.
Characterization Tina is a naive teenager when she arrives in Llanview in 1978, the goddaughter of heroine Viki Lord who makes Tina her ward upon the death of Tina's mother. Marco Dane and then Tina's own father, Ted Clayton, use Tina to manipulate Viki. Tina becomes romantically tangled with Greg Huddleston, Mick Gordon and Johnny Drummond before she leaves town in 1981. Returning in 1984, Tina soon discovers a secret room beneath the Lord mansion, where she learns that she is Viki's half-sister thanks to an affair Viki's father had with Tina's mother. Viki has a breakdown, and charistmatic cult leader Mitch Laurence manipulates Tina into using it to seize control of Viki's fortune. Ultimately Tina helps Viki's estranged husband Clint Buchanan shock Viki back to sanity. Tina begins falling in love with Cord Roberts, but her lies and schemes to secure a fortune of her own continually sabotage their relationship.
Passalacqua noted, "Andrea Evans' Tina was the ultimate junior manipulatrix—stupid, selfish and whiny. But for some reason, she was much beloved by the audience." Curtis Harding of Soaps.com wrote, "Tina Lord was, as virtually any of her fellow Llanview folks would likely tell you, tough to love. Vain, selfish, manipulative and greedy, Tina was one of a kind." The character has been called "tempestuous", "spoiled" and "mischievous", and a "whirling dervish". Witter said of the character, "Tina has a good heart, but she's not full of self-confidence. She's lacking in common sense, but she's idealistic, and I find that rather pure." She called Tina "mercurial", but also someone who believes in love.
Storylines
1978–1981 In 1978, longsuffering heroine Victoria Lord takes in 16-year-old goddaughter Tina Clayton as her ward after the presumed death of Tina's mother, Irene Manning Clayton, Viki's best friend from her teenage years and college roommate. As Viki adjusts to the responsibility of raising a teenager, Marco Dane sees the perfect way to get revenge on Viki. In 1979, Marco befriends Tina and opens a modeling agency with a plan to photograph the teen, superimpose her image onto pornographic photos and humiliate Viki by releasing them. Soon Marco grows fond of Tina and changes his plan, but eventually he blackmails Viki with the photos. When Viki stumbles upon Marco's dead body, she takes the photos and flees. She is arrested for his murder, but later is exonerated. Tina becomes involved with Greg Huddleston, and by 1980 she is both seducing Mick Gordon (her best friend Samantha Vernon's boyfriend) and pursuing country-western singer Johnny Drummond. Tina's apparent father, Ted Clayton, comes to town under the guise of reuniting with his daughter but with an ulterior motive—to somehow con Viki and Tina out of as much money as he can. Ted pits himself against Clint Buchanan, who had taken more than a professional interest in widowed Viki. When Ted learns that Clint is about to propose marriage to Viki, he arranges to have Tina kidnapped to distract and get close to Viki, and get his hands on the ransom. Tina is safely returned home, and Ted proposes to Viki. Flustered but touched by his request, Viki opts for time to consider the offer. Clint drops out of the romantic triangle but tries to convince Viki that Ted is deceiving her. When Viki realizes that she is in love with Clint, Ted drugs her. He is arrested as the head of a counterfeiting ring but escapes from jail. When Ted is later killed in 1981, a traumatized Tina leaves town.
1984–1989 Tina returns in 1984 after having read in her mother's diary that Ted Clayton had not been her biological father. In 1985, Tina discovers a secret room under the library in Llanfair, in which she finds Nazi-plundered paintings from World War II and a letter written to Viki from her deceased father, Victor Lord.One Life to Live recap (1985, Part 3) - ABC.com Retrieved from Internet Archive on December 7, 2004. In the letter, Victor admits to a secret marriage with Irene and that Tina is his daughter, which puts Tina and a shocked Viki at odds. Viki suffers a relapse of her multiple personality disorder, which is subsequently believed to have been originated by a young Viki stumbling upon Victor and Irene in bed.The actual origin of Viki's dissociative identity disorder is established in 1995 when it is revealed that Victor had sexually abused Viki as a child. Viki is further humiliated—and furious with Tina—when Victor's confession becomes public. Tina revels in her newly discovered status as Lord heiress, but is soon manipulated by charismatic schemer Mitch Laurence, who seeks her inheritance.One Life to Live recap (1985, Part 4) - ABC.com Retrieved from Internet Archive on December 8, 2004. Finding out that Victor's estate would revert to Tina if Viki's illness recurred, Mitch convinces a reluctant Tina to assist him in his plan to do just that but, when Tina realizes Mitch actually intends to murder Viki's husband, Clint Buchanan, and frame Viki, she tries to stop him. Mitch accidentally kills Harry O'Neill instead and Tina is accused of the crime. She is later exonerated but, uses Viki's mental illness to gain control of the Lord estate. Tina schemes to bed Clint while Viki's alter ego, Niki Smith, poses as a supposedly cured Viki and plots her own escape from Viki's life.One Life to Live recap (1985, Part 5) - ABC.com Retrieved from Internet Archive on December 8, 2004. Tina blackmails Niki into divorcing Clint just as Clint discovers Niki's charade. In 1986, Clint ultimately lures Niki to witness a staged sexual encounter between him and Tina, which forces a shocked Viki to re-emerge.One Life to Live recap (1986, Part 1) - ABC.com Retrieved from Internet Archive on December 6, 2004.
With Viki well and Tina engaged to wealthy Richard Abbott, the sisters somewhat reconcile. During a 1986 visit to El Paso, Texas, Tina meets and starts falling in love with good-natured cowboy Cord Roberts.One Life to Live recap (1986, Part 2) - ABC.com Retrieved from Internet Archive on September 5, 2005. When she discovers Cord is secretly Clint's son, Tina breaks off her engagement to Richard and races to marry Cord before he knows he is a Buchanan heir.One Life to Live recap (1986, Part 3) - ABC.com Retrieved from Internet Archive on December 7, 2004. She succeeds, and Cord's paternity is revealed; he returns a gift of $1 million from his new-found grandfather, Asa Buchanan. Tina blackmails Asa (with the knowledge of his secret marriage to Pamela Stuart) into giving her the money. She secretly buys the Caribbean isle of Devil's Claw, but is kidnapped by terrorists when she and Cord vacation there. Tina is saved, and the island destroyed by bombs. Tina's recurring lies and schemes finally result in their divorce in 1987.
Cord's mother, Maria, brings her old friend, Max Holden, to town that year to romance Tina, whom she despises, and keep Tina from reconciling with Cord. Pregnant with Cord's baby and—thanks to Maria's scheming—thinking that Cord knows and does not care, Tina leaves with Max for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Learning Tina is pregnant, Cord follows her to Argentina, but Max and Tina are mixed up in a drug ring and a captive Tina plummets over the Iguazu Falls in a raft. She and her unborn baby are presumed dead.One Life to Live recaps (1987, Part 1) - ABC.com Retrieved from Internet Archive on December 7, 2004.