Evans's Essence
She's facing a year of grueling cross country-commutes but it's just
another adventure for Mary Beth Evans
Photo by Jeff Katz
by Jennifer Lenhart, Soap Opera Digest 11/23/04
Imagine this sight: A few weeks ago, Mary Beth Evans, beloved soap veteran,
mother of three, California girl, trudging
20 city blocks with a load of supplies for fixing up the empty Manhattan
apartment that she just moved into, alone. "I
couldn't find a cab, so I walked over a mile with two gallons of paint and
a shower caddy hanging out of my bag," she laughs.
"I keep thinking that it's going to keep me young: all the schlepping and
hoisting the carry-on in the overhead of the plane.
They say you should stay active as you get older--but this is really taking
it to the limit!"
On the phone for the interview, she speed talks, which is just as much a
reflection of her free-spirited openness as it is to
the fact that she seems to be in a near-constant state of busy-ness. She's
waiting for a car-service to pick her up and take
her to Brooklyn with Elizabeth Hubbard (Lucinda) whose daughter she played
on a recurring basis for four years before
One Life To Live came knocking on Evans' door (to play Paige) and ATWT persuaded
her to stay with a long term story
for Sierra. "I just never thought I really could and then I thought, 'Well
maybe I could,'" she says of the year-long contract
she signed. "When I first said I'd do it, I thought 'Oh yeah sure.' And then
I was so racked with guilt thinking, 'Oh my God,
I have three kids! What am I going to do?' "
What she did was try to get organized for the first time in her life--"I
have sort of a triage approach to everything, but it gets
done!"--and make sure the family communicates as much as possible. Husband
Michael, who has a thriving plastic surgery
practice, is pitching in, as has the childrens' favorite nanny. Now she has
an internet message account for chatting with her
kids and plenty of airline miles. "Every week gets better and better. I actualy
talked to a flight attendant about how they do
their flying. She goes across the country four times a week, and she just
drinks a lot of water, doesn't look at the time...So
I try to think like that: 'I'm a flight attendant, and the flights aren't
a problem, and I drink a lot of water,'" she laughs.
"I have to say, so far so good. My husband has certainly stepped up to the
plate to be every position. It's a huge thing: My
family really has to rally together in support of this sort of adventure.
We all just need to stay on top of it and talk a lot. And
when I go home, I spend the whole time just loving everybody, hugging and
kissing them a lot, hanging out with them and
really trying to soak it up. It's so much a mind set. I used to think, 'Oh
my God that flight! Now I try not to think about it. I
feel like it's all in my power to have a good attitude...or not."
It's an interesting situation for Evans who of course made her name in soaps
as quintessential heroine Kayla on Days of our
Lives in 1986; within 3 years she and co-star Stephen Nichols (Patch) had
become an iconic couple. Evans expected to be
there for the rest of her life. "I always wanted to. When you're young you
think, 'I don't know if I want to keep doing a soap.'
But once I was there I really thought I would stay forever. I certainly never
thought I'd go from soap to soap. That's just not
the way it went," she shrugs. "Stephen left and a year later, they had me
move away and I was surprised. And when I went to
General Hospital [as Katherine] I swear it was probably three years before
I was even happy there. I always wanted to go
back to Days because that felt like home to me. I finally enjoyed my time
on General Hospital but to me Days always seemed
like where I was meant to be. It's always been surprising that they didn't
bring Stephen and me back there. But that show has
changed so much--As The World Turns is much more like Days of our Lives when
I did it. I like heartfelt real stories. But who
knows what the future holds? I have no idea."
For now Oakdale is making a nice home away from home. "The show is so fun
and it's just amplified now that I'm spending more
time here. Everyone is so professional, and we're really a band of actors
out there in Brooklyn," says the actress. "And I always
came to New York anyway because my mother-in-law was here. I love California
but this sort of lifestyle is more my personality
because I like to be moving all the time. For me to go walk 50 blocks is
fabulous, and I don't do that at home. I love zillions of
people all around you. I talk to everybody, which I think is odd for a New
Yorker, but I love being around people. Everybody
is sort of going their ways and it's so fun. In California, it's different.
You really are either in your house or in your car or you've
made arrangements to go with someone. But it's not just roaming around and
running into people. There are neighborhoods where
I live where, I swear during the day, I don't even see a single soul on the
sidewalk."
Still, she admits that her car is a luxury she misses, as more New York madness
sets in (and winter looms). "I finally went and
bought a cart yesterday, after the paint can experience," she chuckles. "So
it's weird but that's part of the fun; navigating my way
through this. You know, I've been married for a long time with kids and lived
a certain lifestyle, so this is a whole new groove.
I just hope if I talk to you six months down the road, I'm still laughing!"
Sweet(ness)!
As Days' Patch and Kayla, Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans were one of
soaps' biggest supercouples of the 80s, and they
even revisited their chemistry on GH in the '90s. "I just went to an
Adopt-a-Land-mine fundraiser hosted by Stephen and his wife,
Lisa. When I see him I think, 'I've known him forever now," Evans notes.
"I still get recognized the most for Days of our Lives. It
was such a long time ago--I didn't think I looked the same. Fans do follow
you forever and ever. It's pretty amazing." Not
surprisingly, Nichols and Evans have appeared as a duo on nine digest covers,
spanning 15 years.
(The magazine chose 3 favorites: Their first cover, as Steve and Kayla:
10/7/86--with their first cover, the legend began";
8/22/89: "Playful was the theme for their last cover as a Days duo"; The
third cover they chose was 3/25/97: of Stephen and
Mary Beth as Stefan and Kat; the cover says "Obsession: A love Story begins
again"). The caption under this says: "Reincarnated
as GH's Katherine and Stefan, the romance began again".)
Sidebar/Just the facts:
Birthday: March 7
Married to: Dr. Michael Schwartz since 1985
Children: Daniel 17, Katie 14, Matthew 12
Airplane reading: People Magazine, if it's Friday. I'm usually so
tired from whatever rushing I've done that I fall dead asleep
for like an hour. I try to say to myself that this is good quiet time and
time to get things done for myself.
R&R techniques: "I do some yoga. and just walking around--roaming endlessly--is very relaxing for me."
Web Site: www.marybethevans.com
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