Whether it’s for her Daytime Emmy Award-winning turn as Guiding Light‘s Beth Raines, or Judi Evans’ years spent as Days of our Lives‘ darling Adrienne Johnson — not to mention her blowsy, bawdy doppelganger Bonnie Lockhart — or her near decade-long run as Another World‘s Paulina Cory, or even her brief stint in As the World Turns, the daytime TV veteran with 42 years under her belt, is known and beloved.
Judi Evans Looks Back – And Forward
It turns out that toiling in her family’s eponymous circus prepared Judi Evans for a career in suds. “In a traveling circus, you’re entertaining people in a new city every day — whether it’s death-defying emotions or wacky, wild comedy,” she relayed to Woman’s World. “Much like a soap, you’re basically doing an entire play or movie every day, and even though you’re doing similar stuff, you have to make it very different to make it interesting for yourself and for the audience.
“In the circus, you’ve got animals pooping on you and you’re falling all over each other. You’re always ready for an accident. And you know what? I’ve actually had animals pooping on me on soaps, too! See, it’s pretty much the same.”
On Wally Kurth (Justin Kiriakis) in particular and her cadre of leading me across the daytime dial in general: “I adore that man. We’re always in each other’s lives, even when we’re not working together, because we’re very good friends. It’s been wonderful to watch a great young man turn into a great gentleman, a great friend and a great partner. We’ve had a lot of adventures . . . but not nearly enough!
“I also worked a lot with Bryan Dattilo, Vincent Irizarry, Tom Eplin . . .” Judi Evans lists. “It’s like I hit the lottery with friends that I’ve worked with, so I feel pretty fortunate.”
As for what fans can expect from DAYS meta satire on soap making: “I’ve got some scenes coming up with Rob Wilson Scott, who plays Alex, and we had a blast! We were tickled . . . and I hope the audience will be, too…
“In a way, we’re showing a bit of the behind-the-scenes of making a soap, but we’re also poking fun at our business. Sometimes, soap storylines are hard to relate to, so we laugh a lot. It’s a way to let that go, so we can fully commit to what we’re doing.
“Now, we’re letting the audience in on our joke, so I hope you like it . . . and if you hate it, I hope you’re still entertained, because that’s what we’re here for!”
Be sure to click on the above link to read Judi Evans’ interview in full, then head to our comments section and let us know your most cherished memory from Evans’ various tenures.
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