Marlena
Evans is the daughter of Frank and Martha Evans. She is the twin
sister of Samantha Evans, and cousin of Trista Evans. She is the
mother of D.J. Craig, Samantha & Eric Brady, and Isabella Brady.
Marlena has been married to Don Craig, Roman Brady, Eugene Bradford
(illegally), and John Black (when he thought he was Roman.) Recently,
she remarried John Black. Marlena first arrived in Salem in 1976.
Since then, her life has been a continuous roller coaster, being the
victim of countless kidnappings. Yet, Marlena remains one of the
pillars of Salem.
When
Marlena first appeared, she was Mickey Horton's psychiatrist at
Bayview Sanitarium, where he was being treated after trying to kill
his brother. While treating Mickey, she met Don Craig, Mickey's
partner at the law firm. Their meeting was not love at first sight,
especially since Don made cracks about Marlena's competence as a
doctor. Don eventually softened his chauvinist attitude and Marlena
soon became attracted to him. However, he was involved with Julie
Anderson at the time. Following the dissolvement of that
relationship, Don finally had eyes for Marlena. Though elated at this
fact, Marlena made it clear that she would not allow herself to be a
substitute for Julie and warned him to resolve his feelings for Julie
before getting involved with her. Slowly, they began dating. Marlena
played therapist to Sharon Duval. Sharon impacted Marlena's life when
she began to tell Marlena about her on-going torrid affair with Don.
Although Don denied being more than an acquaintance to Sharon,
Marlena didn't quite believe him. In their sessions, Sharon would
tell Marlena that she and her husband Karl had a very open marriage:
he had his mistresses, and she had her suitors. However, Karl soon
told Marlena that all of this was false. Don and Marlena continued
their relationship. By May of 1977, he was ready to declare his love
for her. Not much later, Don told Marlena of his first marriage,
which ended when his wife and daughter died. He wanted that kind of
life again, and proposed marriage to Marlena. Wanting to make sure
that they were ready to take that step, Marlena chose to wait before
giving him an answer. Meanwhile, her sister Samantha flew into Salem
for a two-week visit.
Although
happy to see her sister, Marlena quickly noticed that she was very
moody, being happy one minute and depressed the next. Sam also seemed
to have a dependency on barbiturates and often mixed them with
alcohol. Marlena soon faced the fact that Samantha was
manic-depressive and begged her to seek therapy. Sam, however,
spurned her sister's advice. As Sam's visit drew to a close, Sam
admitted to Marlena that she was broke; her career as an actress was
going nowhere and she was having trouble making ends meet. Yet,
Marlena said there was nothing she could do. She wouldn't lend her
money, afraid that Sam would use to feed her drug habit. Marlena also
ruined Sam's plan to hit Don for money. Unbeknownst to Marlena, Sam
began to resent her in an insane level. One night, Sam drugged
Marlena's drink causing her to slip in and out of consciousness. Sam
proceeded to call Bayview Sanitarium, posing as Marlena, and had
Marlena committed passing her off as herself. Once in Bayview,
Marlena's pleas to the doctors went unheard; Sam (playing Marlena)
had told the doctors that "Samantha" would try to convince them that
she was Marlena. Alone in isolation, Marlena realized that her sister
was dangerously psychotic and tried to find a way to escape.
Unfortunately, Samantha ordered her to be heavily treated with
Thorazine, making clear thought extremely difficult. During one lucid
moment, Marlena managed to send Don a letter explaining everything
and including intimate details about their relationship as proof that
she was Marlena. Unfortunately, the letter remained unanswered
Meanwhile, Dr. Powell, who was in charge of "Samantha", decided that
it would be better to take her out of isolation. As soon as he did,
Marlena made her escape. Hitching a ride with a trucker, Marlena made
it out to a diner and managed to call Don. But before Don got there,
the police arrived and took Marlena back to Bayview. After a month of
drugs, Marlena was more than befuddled -- she was almost truly
insane. But even in her oblivion she tried to grasp to the knowledge
that she was Marlena and that she loved Don Craig. Finally, Samantha
visited Marlena one last time and confessed that she had switched
roles with her, but for her own good. Sam tried to convince Marlena
that she'd had a nervous breakdown, so Sam had had her committed as
"Samantha" to spare her career. Affected by the drugs, Marlena had no
choice but to accept this as the truth. Soon after, the truth about
Samantha was uncovered by Don, and Marlena was saved.
Following the ordeal, Marlena remained in Bayview to recuperate mentally. Her professor from medical school, Dr. Paul Whitman, came to Salem in order to help her with the process. Meanwhile, Samantha was arrested in Los Angeles and extradited to Salem. Once she was well enough, Marlena attended Sam's trial. At the trial, it became obvious to everyone the extent of Sam's illness when she broke down on the stand. After being sentenced to psychiatric treatment in a Colorado hospital, Samantha left Salem, apologizing to Marlena for the pain she'd caused her. Understanding her sister's illness, Marlena promised to visit her and help recover. In the meantime, Marlena continued to work on getting her life back to normal with Paul's help. In doing so, they revisited their former relationship; as a student, Marlena had had an affair with him. And although Paul still harbored feelings for Marlena, they agreed that as soon as she was well enough he would leave. Her life now was with Don.
Finally,
Don and Marlena were free from worries, and became engaged. In the
meantime, Don was running for Senator. The publicity from his
campaign attracted an unsavory character from Don's past, Lorraine
Temple. She came to town with her teenage daughter Donna in tow,
claiming that Don was Donna's father. The press had a field day with
this story despite Don's claim that Lorraine was lying. As it turned
out, she had been lying -- Donna wasn't Don's daughter. But by the
time this was proven, the damage done was too great and Don lost the
race. After this, Lorraine left Salem, abandoning Donna. When Marlena
found out that Donna had been arrested for shoplifting, she took pity
on the girl and asked to become her foster mother. Marlena felt that
Donna was an innocent victim of Lorraine's hoax. Don, on the other
hand, was furious at the thought of Marlena becoming Donna's
guardian. He felt that since Donna wasn't his daughter, and was the
source for all of the recent scandals, that she would just be a
hindrance in his life. Nevertheless, Marlena took Donna under her
wing. As Marlena and Don worked their problems out and set a wedding
date, Donna became more withdrawn and hostile. On the day of the
wedding, she ran away from the house. Marlena wanted to postpone the
wedding in order to look for her, but family and friends talked her
into allowing the police to handle it. But as the wedding began,
Marlena received a call from Donna. She was at the Salem Inn and was
threatening to jump off the ledge. So without giving it a second
thought, Marlena left the Church with Laura to go help Donna, leaving
Don standing at the altar. When they arrived at the hotel, Donna was
standing on the ledge of the top floor. However, Donna soon revealed
that it had all been a ploy to keep Marlena from marrying Don. She
never planned to actually jump off the ledge. The problem now was
that she couldn't get back inside the building; being out on the
ledge paralyzed Donna with fear and she couldn't move. At this time,
Don arrived and decided to bring Donna inside. He didn't really care
about Donna; he was only doing it to get Marlena back to the wedding.
Don stepped outside the window and slowly managed to get Donna back
inside. But as he was doing so, he lost his balance and fell off the
ledge. Though Don survived, the wedding would have to
wait.
As
a result of what happened on her wedding day, Marlena developed
hostile feelings against Donna. Ironically, the accident caused Don
to begin liking the girl. Over time, Marlena was able to get past her
anger against Donna. At this time, Marlena decided to go back to
Colorado for a few days to relax while Don recuperated. But while
camping in the mountains, a sheriff reached her and told her that Don
was dying of an infection. Marlena rushed back to Salem to be with
Don. Fortunately, he was given an experimental drug to counteract the
infection. However, when Don regained consciousness, he was found to
be deaf. Doctors claimed that the deafness would be incurable, so Don
immediately began pushing Marlena away. Don didn't count on the fact
Marlena would continue to be by his side, though. His childish
behavior made her angry, and finally she made him see that he would
deal with his problems with her whether he liked it or not. While
arguing about this, Marlena dropped a flower vase and noticed that
Don reacted to it! In no time, Don began recovering his hearing.
Meanwhile, he was released from the hospital and asked Donna to move
come live with him. Donna's presence made Marlena jealous, and soon
she began to question whether or not she would be able to have a life
with Don with Donna in the picture. Unfortunately, she'd have to.
Evidence soon turned up suggesting that Donna really was Don's
natural daughter! Not only did Donna bear a strong resemblance to
Don's mother, but also Don remembered bits about his relationship
with Lorraine that he had forgotten which made Lorraine's claims
plausible. When blood tests were finally ordered, it was
conclusive: Don was Donna's father. Putting all other problems
aside, Marlena supported Don as he adopted Donna, and tried to form a
friendship with her. After a while, she and Marlena were able to get
along beautifully. In May of 1979, Don and Marlena were finally
married. They honeymooned in Carmel, California.
Marlena
and Don settled into a blissful marriage that was only marred by the
occasional mess that Donna would find herself involved in. In the
late summer of 1979, Marlena discovered that she was pregnant. As
soon as they found out, Don wanted Marlena to stop working until
after the baby was born. However, Marlena felt that she had a duty to
her patients and decided to work during her pregnancy. As the
pregnancy advanced, Neil Curtis warned Marlena to take time off work
because of some risk to harming the baby. Because of the delicate
nature of the pregnancy, Marlena reduced her workload but continued
to work nevertheless, in spite of Don's protests. Meanwhile, Sam
returned to Salem for a short visit. While in Salem, however, she
collapsed. Sam had suffered a kidney failure and needed a transplant.
Naturally, Marlena brought Sam to her home to recover. In February of
1980, Marlena unexpectedly went into labor one evening while having
dinner. She was only 6 months pregnant. The baby, Donald Jeremiah
Craig, Jr., barely weighed 2 pounds and was placed in an incubator.
Marlena agonized over her son's precarious health and stood watch
over him for weeks, until D.J. (as the boy came to be called) gained
enough weight to be released from the hospital. Marlena and Don were
thrilled beyond words to have their child home. However, Marlena
began to wonder if she was a good mother because she often didn't
know what to do with D.J., as opposed to Don who already been a
father once before. Slowly, she overcame her fear of mothering. But
in March, her worst fears came true. After a day of shopping with
Maggie, Marlena came home and noticed that D.J. had "the sniffles"
but didn't think much of it and continued to entertain Maggie. Some
time later, she went to D.J.'s room to feed him, and found that he
was not breathing. Realizing that her child was dead, an inconsolable
Marlena went into hysterics. Neil declared his death as SIDS (Sudden
Infant Death Syndrome), or crib death, and mentioned that it was
prevalent wih children born prematurely. Don, who had taken a job on
Ambassador Kellam Chandler's senate campaign committee, was out of
town and unavailable. When he finally returned and was told the news,
Don remained silent. Marlena hoped to have his support, but instead
Don lashed out at her. He blamed Marlena for D.J.'s death because it
had been her excessive workload that had caused her to give birth
prematurely. Marlena was extremely hurt by this. Don soon let go of
his accusations and apologized for his reaction, but he never said
that Marlena *wasn't* responsible. Deep down, he blamed her and the
animosity he felt created tension in the marriage. Trying to ease the
pain of losing D.J., Marlena and Don visited the David Martin Clinic
during a fundraiser and befriended an abandoned boy named Johnny.
Although Johnny didn't like Don very much, he loved Marlena. When
Johnny was set to be sent to a state orphanage, Marlena asked to
become his foster parent. The little boy happily came to live with
Don and Marlena, seemingly filling a void in their lives.
In
an effort to mend her marriage to Don, Marlena decided to work with
him in Kellam Chandler's campaign committee working out campaign
strategies. Kellam Chandler, whom she'd met a month earlier, was
fascinated by Marlena and often asked for her opinion on political
matters. Soon, Marlena began spending a great deal of time with
Kellam while Don travelled constantly out of town with Kellam's
daughter, Liz Courtney. One day while at the campaign headquarters,
Marlena overheard another employee talking on the phone; the person
said that she'd seen a woman leaving Don's hotel room. Later, Marlena
waited for Don to come home. When he did, she asked him point blank
if he'd cheated on her. Don couldn't deny it. Despite his supposedly
honorable honesty, Marlena lashed out at him for having such little
regard for their marriage. Don tried to blame this on the fact that
they'd been estranged because of the death of D.J. Dragging that
issue back onto the table only made things worse. Marlena tried to
forgive Don, but when she discovered that Don had cheated on her with
Liz Courtney several times, she decided to file for divorce.
Throughout all of this, Kellam stood by Marlena with a shoulder to
cry on.
Soon
after the divorce, Don Craig hastily married Liz. Kellam was there to
comfort Marlena. He tried to seduce her, and they fell into a very
odd relationship. Meanwhile, Marlena buried herself into her work.
First, she counseled Joshua Fallon, who had been committed into
Bayview Sanitarium after being accused of murdering his girlfriend,
Cassie Burns. Marlena helped Josh be acquitted of the crime and made
it possible for him to get out of the institution. In the process,
they became good friends. A short while later, it was discovered that
Josh was the son of Sunny Chandler, Kellam's deceased wife, and John
Talbot, Jr., Sunny's first husband. Josh claimed that Kellam had been
responsible for Sunny's death. This possibility caused great trouble
for Marlena when Kellam asked her to marry him. Though she considered
it, Marlena ultimately rejected the proposal. Enraged, Kellam made
his way into her apartment one night by tricking Johnny into letting
him in and raped her. That same night, Marlena called Josh Fallon and
told him what had happened. Before the night was over, Kellam was
dead. Todd had found Josh and Kellam arguing and shot his father. At
the trial that followed, Marlena testified that Kellam had raped her
that night, helping Todd's case. Following this, Marlena received
some hasty rape counseling. During this time, Marlena was also
counseling Jessica Blake. Marlena's best friend, Marie Horton, had
recently discovered that Jessica was her daughter; in turn, Jessica
had developed a multiple-personality disorder. With Marlena's help,
Jessica slowly integrated her fragmented personality.
To
relieve her grief over losing D.J. and Don, Marlena continued to be
the foster mother to Johnny. Johnny had been abused by his
step-father and abandoned by his mother. Though Marlena wanted
to adopt him, the system would not allow it because of the chance
that his mother might return. Nevertheless, Marlena was a real
mother to Johnny. He even began to call her "Mom." During this time,
Marlena also started a psychiatric radio call-in show at Stuart
Whyland's radio station. During one of her shows, a man calling in
begged Marlena to help him because he was about to commit murder. He
told Marlena that he had a great urge to rid the world of "unclean"
women, and was going to start that very night if he didn't receive
any help. Marlena tried to keep him on the line, but the man hung up.
The following morning, Marlena found out that a young friend of
Jessica's, Denise Peterson, had been strangled to death. Although
Marlena wondered if she could've been killed by the person who had
called in, she dismissed the thought. Some time later another girl,
Lori Masters, was found strangled in her apartment by Josh. Again,
the killer had phoned into Marlena's show before the murder happened.
Then, a blonde doll symbolizing Marlena was found in her home, with a
silk scarf wrapped around its neck. With Josh's troubled past, and
his connection to the victims (both Denise and Lori had worked out at
the Body Connection, where Josh taught a self-defense class),
Marlena, and the police, began to wonder if maybe Josh was the
killer.
The
Salem Strangler, as the criminal came to be known, had an obvious
fixation on Marlena. The police wanted to protect Marlena, so they
assigned newly-arrived Roman Brady to watch over her, much to her
chagrin. Marlena didn't feel as though she needed police protection.
At first, Marlena was disgusted by Roman's arrogance and earthiness.
For instance, the first time Marlena actually met detective Brady was
in her office. He pretended to be a disturbed patient of hers and
tried to strangle her with a cord...all just to show Marlena what an
easy target she was for the Strangler. Following that lovely
encounter, Roman came to Marlena's apartment at night and literally
camped out on her living room...sleeping bag and everything. He was
going to give Marlena the protection she needed, whether she liked it
or not. Marlena was furious. During this time, Roman asked Marlena to
work with the police in making a psychological profile for the
Strangler. He also asked her out. Although she didn't like him at
first, Marlena was eventually charmed by Roman.
Meanwhile,
the Strangler was still at large, having unsuccessfully attacked
Renée DuMonde. While working with the police, Marlena recalled
a former patient of hers, Eugene Bradford. Eugene had been counseled
by Marlena when he had problems with his cheating wife, Bonita Jean.
Eugene had eventually been arrested for strangling Bonnie; he had
served time in prison and in a hospital, but was now released.
Marlena truly thought Eugene could be the Strangler because of his
past and decided to speak with him at a park. At the park, Eugene
spoke of having hurt women and having sought help from Marlena's
radio show to no avail. Becoming more disturbed, Eugene took out a
knife and took Marlena to the house he'd once shared with his wife
Bonnie. On the way to the house, Marlena cleverly dropped a few
belongings as a trail for anyone looking for her. Once at the house,
Eugene confessed to the killings, even though he didn't recall
actually killing anyone. As he spoke, he became more delusional and
believed Marlena was Bonnie. Fortunately, Marlena managed to calm
Eugene down and convinced him to make a phone call to the hospital to
tell them to cancel her sessions. While speaking to Kayla Brady,
Marlena hinted at the fact that the number of the house she was being
held in was 45. Later on, Marlena called Josh and hinted the name of
the street she was on, Market Street. The clues worked, and Roman
saved Marlena just as a disturbed Eugene was pointing a knife to her.
After Marlena was rescued, the police believed that Eugene was the
Strangler. After all, Gene had been convicted of strangling his wife.
In fact, Eugene confessed to the crime. Ironically, the incident with
Eugene convinced Marlena that he wasn't the Strangler. He was just
terribly confused; though he was fascinated with the Strangler
killings (his apartment had been full of newspaper clippings
regarding the murders), Eugene was very unfamiliar with a lot of the
details. In addition, the murders continued while he was in jail.
Eugene would in time become one of Marlena's best friends.
Nevertheless, Marlena was worried that the real Strangler would come
after her and Johnny. To protect him, Marlena sent the boy to
Colorado to stay with her parents.
The attacks continued, with an attempt on Renée DuMonde's life. When Renée recovered from the attack (she'd gone into a coma), Marlena put her under hypnosis in the hopes that she recalled the Strangler's identity using the mirror in which Renée had seen the Strangler's face. She didn't; she only saw him as a shadow. However, Renée did remember the Strangler's cologne and Marlena applied a hypnotic suggestion so that Renée would react to that same cologne if she smelled it again. Meanwhile, Marlena received a new patient: Renée's older sister, Lee DuMonde. Lee had been ordered by the court to attend therapy sessions with Marlena. During one of these sessions, Lee confessed to Marlena that Renée was actually her daughter! Marlena tried to get Lee to tell Renée the truth, but Lee backed off for mysterious reasons. Lee's strong opposition to Renée's budding relationship with Tony DiMera also puzzled Marlena. Finally, Lee confessed to Marlena that Renée's father was Stefano DiMera, Tony's father. Now Marlena understood why Lee didn't want Renée and Tony together. Marlena urged Lee to tell Stefano that he had a daughter, but Lee feared that Stefano, a seemingly charitable man, would harm her. As time went by, Lee grew more and more fearful of Stefano, claiming that he was planning to take over Salem. Finally, Lee left Salem. Before leaving, she entrusted Marlena with a letter and a journal that were to be given to Renée. In the letter, Lee explained Renée's parentage.
Even though Renée was attacked after Eugene's arrest, he was still a prime suspect. Marlena questioned Eugene and realized once and for all that he couldn't be the Strangler. The night Bonnie had been killed, Eugene had seen a man who drove a beat-up old car prowling around his house. He assumed it had been Bonnie's boyfriend. The next morning, Eugene had found Bonnie's strangled body - the only explanation to Eugene was that he'd killed her. That's why he believed he was the Strangler. Roman and Marlena became convinced that Bonnie's "boyfriend" had been the Strangler and began looking for a suspect who drove a beat-up car. However, Don remained convinced that Eugene was the Strangler; he had known Lori Masters when she'd worked at Bayview Sanitarium, and she was killed after his release from the hospital. Eugene was only cleared of any wrongdoing when Mary Anderson became the Strangler's next victim.
Soon after Mary's death, Marlena received a phone call from the Strangler, who now sounded more desperate than ever (we, the audience, now knew that Jake Kositchek was the Strangler.) Roman had the call traced to Marlena's office, but by the time they arrived, it was too late. However, the Strangler left a message for Marlena scrawled on Renée's mirror: "Help me. Please, help me." Marlena realized that the Strangler had listened to the tape of her session with Renée, and thus Renée was in grave danger. Indeed, Renée was attacked again, unsuccessfully. Again, she didn't remember the killer's identity. Meanwhile, Marlena reasoned that whoever the Strangler was, he couldn't relate to women. If he had a girlfriend, she was safe until she tried to sleep with him, since the Strangler had such a hatred for supposedly "unclean" women. Meanwhile, Marlena unwittingly made herself a prime target for the killer by telling Jessica, who had doubts about her engagement to Jake, that perhaps she shouldn't marry him because she still had feelings for Josh. After Jessica broke up with Jake, he focused his anger entirely on Marlena. He blamed her for losing Jessica.
By this time, Marlena and Roman had become a serious item. But feeling a little overwhelmed by the relationship, Marlena asked Gwen Davies to move in with her and Roman. Meanwhile, Eugene began having psychic visions in which he saw future victims of the Strangler. One of the attacks, to have taken place at the Greenbriar Inn, was halted. However, clues pointing to the identity of the Strangling started popping up. By now, it was assumed that the Strangler was someone who frequented the Body Connection and was familiar with a lot of the hospital staff. Josh and Jake were prime subjects for the police because, in their self-defense class, they demonstrated how the Strangler used the scarf to strangle his victims. Marlena recalled the night that Denise Peterson had been murdered; it had been the same night that Jessica (as her alter personality, Angel) had driven out of town with Jake to get married in Las Vegas. Marlena mentioned to Roman that Jake and Jessica had fallen asleep, thus Jake didn't have a good alibi for that night. When Roman interrogated Jake, he claimed to have been living in Chicago when Denise was murdered, but Roman discovered that he'd lied. Furthermore, he found out about his animosity toward Marlena. And finally, he found out that he owned a key-duplicating machine (the Strangler was suspected of having such a contraption.) As the pieces of the puzzle were coming together, Marlena decided to go on a vacation in Mazatlan, Mexico. In the meantime, she gave Renée the letter Lee had left for her...only moments after Tony and Renée had announced their engagement.
Soon
after, Marlena left on her trip. However, that evening, her dead body
was found by Gwen lying on the floor of their living room. She had
been strangled. Or had she? A day later, Marlena bumped into an
inconsolable Don at their old house by the lake, the Gatehouse. He
seemed truly shocked to see her and explained that everyone thought
she was dead. It only took Marlena seconds to realize that her sister
Sam was dead. Marlena had never taken the plane to Mazatlan. Instead,
she'd gone to Colorado to visit her parents. Before leaving for
Colorado, she'd spoken to Samantha, who had been planning to come
from Chicago to meet Roman. The Strangler, now proven to be Jake, had
killed the wrong woman. Naturally, Marlena mourned her sister with
great anguish, but convinced Don to go to the police and let them
know that she was alive. While alone at the gatehouse, Marlena built
a fire in the chimney; soon, the entire living room was filled with
smoke because something had plugged the chimney. So, Marlena opened
the door, unaware that Jake was waiting for her outside. He came in,
held a gun to her, and calmly told Marlena that he was going to kill
her. Marlena tried to calm him down, and almost succeeded in
retrieving his gun, but Jake snapped. Just as he was about to kill
Marlena, Roman arrived. He and Jake struggled for the gun. During the
fight, Jake managed to point the gun to himself and pulled the
trigger.
Marlena
went into shock following the incident with Jake, and even refused to
believe that Samantha was dead. Only when Roman showed her the
outline of Samantha's body on the floor of the apartment did Marlena
accept the horrible truth. To get over the trauma, she and Roman took
a vacation to Mazatlán, Mexico. The vacation did wonders for
both of them. Not only did it enable Marlena to grieve her sister's
death, but also it brought her and Roman to a new level of closeness.
But once back in Salem, Marlena's life took another beating. Mrs.
Stockton, Johnny's natural mother, returned to claim the boy. She had
divorced her abusive husband, and was married to a new, wonderful
man. Seeing how much Johnny loved his mother, and not wanting to put
him through a custody trial, Marlena stepped aside to unite mother
and son. Though Marlena saw Johnny every once in a while, it didn't
ease the pain of losing yet another child.
Roman
and Marlena had fallen in love. Soon after, Roman proposed to her and
she accepted, of course. Meanwhile, Roman began investigating Stefano
DiMera. Stefano was a European "entrepreneur" who had set up shop in
Salem and donated plenty of money to charities. But certain clues led
Roman, Abe, Mickey, and Don to believe that Stefano was not as good
as he wanted people to think. The foursome began an intensive search.
Marlena had already suspected Stefano of being a criminal from her
sessions with Lee. During this time, Anna Brady, Roman's "dead" wife,
returned with his 4 year-old daughter Carrie. This put a halt to
Marlena and Roman's romance. Little did they know that Anna's return
had been masterminded by none other Stefano.
Roman
and Anna got a quickie divorce, and Roman was set marry Marlena. By
this time, Stefano already had the police closing in behind him. The
day of the wedding, Stefano's goons tried to murder the groom,
unsuccessfully. Marlena and Roman married, but he was adamant about
bringing in "the enemy." Roman refused to reveal who he was trying to
pin because Stefano was still considered by Salem, and Marlena, a
good person in the community. Immediately after the wedding, Roman
went underground and made it seem like he was on his honeymoon with
Marlena. In reality, Marlena had to remain holed up at a country inn
with Don, who was working with Roman to catch the enemy. Marlena and
Don argued their way through their "honeymoon" and went back to
Salem.
Less
than two weeks into her new marriage, Marlena learned the identity of
The Enemy in an unpleasant way. One day, her car ran out of gas at
Doug's Place. While calling Roman, Stefano and Liz emerged from the
cellar. Soon, Stefano pointed a gun at Marlena and kidnapped her
along with Liz. He took them as hostages to his mountain retreat,
Ridgecrest, where he planned to catch a helicopter and escape the
country. Although Stefano assured Marlena that no one would ever find
them (no one knew that Ridgecrest, an abandoned ski lodge, existed
because that was its former name...it had been renamed Mountain
View.) Marlena tried to escape from Stefano several times, only
succeeding in receiving a black eye from Petrov, a well-paid
mercenary working for Stefano. At one point, Marlena and Liz were
able to cleverly bypass the security system and escape undetected
from Ridgecrest. But as they made their way out of the estate, Liz
tripped and fell. She soon went into labor. Stefano and Petrov found
them and took them back inside.
Stefano
refused to release Liz despite the imminent death of her and her
child, and ordered Marlena to deliver the child. Unfortunately, there
were complications which could spell death for both mother and child
since the baby was two months premature. An operation needed to be
performed. Stefano forced Marlena to deliver the child using supplies
provided by the Salem Police. Fortunately for Marlena, Neil Curtis
managed to infiltrate Ridgecrest and helped deliver the child, Noelle
Curtis. Soon after the birth, Stefano took Marlena to the mountain
top, where the helicopter was waiting. Once inside the chopper,
Marlena made one desperate attempt to escape and pushed the pilot out
of the craft, unaware that he was Roman in disguise! Stefano made a
last ditch effort to escape and took the controls himself. He managed
to get the helicopter in the air (with Roman hanging from it!), but
eventually he had to bring it down. And so, Stefano was promptly
arrested, and Marlena was rescued. Once home, Marlena and Roman
prepared for a real honeymoon, only to find that her cousin Trista
had arrived in Salem.
After Stefano died of a brain tumor in prison, Roman and Marlena settled into a healthy marriage. At the same time, a new rash of murders began. The perpetrator of this new wave of crime became known as the Salem Slasher. Meanwhile, Marlena decided to counsel a prostitute friend of Gene's named Daisy Hawkins. Marlena allowed Sandy to come along for the session with Daisy and they both went to her apartment. But as they entered the place, they witnessed Roman spring out of Daisy's closet and stab her in the back. Afterwards, he ran past them and left the apartment. Although Marlena was understandablyshocked, she refused to believe that Roman had committed the crime. Daisy's body displayed the Slasher's M.O., and Roman was arrested. Upon searching their house, the police discovered knives and raven feathers in their household. With so much evidence, the police charged Roman with the Slasher murders. Still, Marlena refused to believe that Roman was guilty. Soon after, Marlena visited Roman and jail and saw him have a heart attack. However, the ambulance crashed and Roman disappeared -- it'd been a ruse to escape. Slowly, Marlena began to believe that perhaps Roman really had killed all those women; but she also believed that he was suffering from a mental illness and did everything she could to get him to turn himself in. Her pleas went unanswered. Shortly thereafter, Roman died in an explosion. Grief-stricken, Bo informed Marlena that he and Roman had been working on clearing his name all along. The night before Roman's funeral, Marlena awoke to find Don in her bedroom...only to watch him peel his face off and reveal the face of Roman! Initially disturbed by this sight, Marlena calmed down when Roman explained that this was how he had been framed for the murders: the killer had used a latex mask in his likeness to commit those murders! After making love for the first time in months, Marlena agreed to keep his being alive a secret so that he could clear his name, letting only Abe know about it. Gene and Bo later found out that he was alive and also decided to help him. During this time, Marlena discovered that she was pregnant. Knowing that this would blow Roman's cover, Marlena and Eugene decided to pretend that they'd been having a relationship ever since Roman's death and that the baby was his. They then got married.
Soon
after, a concert benefiting a new psychiatric wing at the hospital
was organized, and Marlena would represent the hospital. The
nationally-televised event at the Salem Concert Hall would be the
setting for another ordeal for Marlena. She thought her date was
Tony; in reality, it was André DiMera, Stefano's nephew who
looked exactly like Tony, and who was the Salem Slasher. While
accepting a $1 million check from Alex Marshall on stage, someone who
looked like Roman came out and tried to stab Marlena! Luckily, Alex
accidentally tripped him and the Roman look-alike disappeared via a
tunnel beneath the stage. Marlena knew that it wasn't Roman, but the
rest of Salem did not. Soon all of the police was looking to shoot
Roman on sight. Meanwhile, Abe placed Marlena in a prop room to be
protected...only to be found by Stefano! He was still a live, and the
one who masterminded the Salem Slasher killings. Stefano let her know
that there was a bomb in the Concert Hall and tied her to a chair.
After he left, Eugene found Marlena and managed to disarm the deadly
bomb. Roman, who now knew that André had been responsible for
the killings, was cleared of the charges against him after
André was taken to the hospital. The real Tony, and Anna,
corroborated his story by informing the police that Stefano had kept
them prisoner in the penthouse. Meanwhile, Stefano "died" once again.
While escaping from the police, his car plunged into the Salem River.
No body was found, although a sea plane was heard in the fog later
that night.
Marlena delivered twins Samantha, named after her late sister, and Eric, named after Roman's uncle. Sadly, Roman died a few weeks later. While fighting with Stefano on top of a cliff on Stefano's island, Roman fell to his death. Yet, his body was not recovered.
But
Stefano still haunted her. A man by the name of Jimmy Porterfield
began writing Marlena, giving her the courage to survive Roman's
death. Through Jimmy, Marlena met his godmother, Mrs. Lafferty. Mrs.
Lafferty was a mature, gray-haired woman with a robust build. Mrs.
Lafferty was really Stefano in disguise. After she discovered
Stefano's ruse, she took her kids into hiding, as he planned to
kidnap them. However, he found and kidnapped Sami and Eric, and was
also going to kidnap Marlena; Stefano blamed the Bradys for the death
of his "golden girl", Megan, and planned to raise the twins himself
with Marlena. Had it not been for Bo, Stefano would've gotten his
wish. Stefano then tried to kidnap Marlena again at an ice skating
event. On the catwalk, Marlena held a gun to Stefano while a fire
raged below. As Stefano tried to take her, she shot him, sending him
to a fiery death. Marlena was put on trial for murder, spent some
time in jail, but finally a mistrial was declared. The district
attorney, Hart Bennett, proclaimed her innocence in court. As a
result, a mistrial was declared. Hart was disbarred and committed
suicide soon after, and Marlena felt responsible.
After some time, Marlena began dating the new chief of police, Richard Cates. Marlena grew to care for Richard, but he turned out to be a crook. He was Savannah Wilder's right-hand man in her drug operation, which was masterminded by Victor Kiriakis. After Richard was killed, Marlena took care of his son Kevin until his mother, Sandra Cates, came and took him. Meanwhile, Marlena was almost raped by the Hospital Rapist, a criminal who had been stalking women at University Hospital for quite some time now. However, a man named John Black saved her from the rapist. Thankful, Marlena championed to get John a position at the hospital as head of security. She befriended John and, although she refused to admit it, was attracted to him.
Soon
after, Marlena was attacked once again by the Hospital Rapist. This
time, however, Savannah Wilder came in and struggled with the rapist.
The man got away, but not before slashing Savannah in the stomach
with a knife. After Savannah recovered, Marlena was deeply thankful
to her. After the rapist, Ian Griffith, was caught, Marlena learned
how devious Savannah really was. Ian Griffith had a solid alibi for
the night Savannah had rescued Marlena, meaning that he had not
attacked her. Savannah and Alex Marshall had hired someone to attack
Marlena; the plan had been for Savannah to rescue Marlena from the
rapist in order to impress Chris Kositchek, who Savannah thought was
interested in Marlena, and make him realize what a wonderful person
she could be. After Chris and Marlena learned this, they both turned
against Savannah.
Soon,
Marlena noticed that John suffered from amnesia and tried to help him
figure out who he was. However, Marlena was distressed to find that
John displayed similar characteristics of her late husband Roman.
After this, John and Marlena discovered that John had undergone
plastic surgery and contacted the doctor who performed it to ask him
for the "before" pictures. Dr. Peterson agreed to meet them in West
Virginia. When they arrived at the doctor's cabin, they found no one.
While John was putting on his shirt after taking a shower, Marlena
saw John's Phoenix tattoo and believed that John was really Stefano.
She made a phone call to Bo telling him this before John took her
hostage. Eventually, Marlena found the plastic surgeon's briefcase
(Dr. Peterson had been killed). As Bo was ready to throw John off a
cliff, Marlena came running begging him to stop. The "before"
pictures were of Roman.
Marlena
accepted John as her husband. They planned to renew their vows but
Marlena suffered an accident before that could take place. Jennifer
Horton's druggie friend, Matt Burns, was going to commit suicide and
was out on the ledge of the hospital. Marlena went to talk him down,
but ended up falling and cracking her skull. She went into a deep
coma. After she came out and recovered, Marlena and Roman married.
Her college roommate, Tamara Price, came and sang at the
wedding.
Meanwhile, Roman was investigating a certain mystery surrounding the ISA. In West Virginia, he had located a hidden ballet poster from Sweden that had something to do with missing treasury bonds. The ISA, which was trying to locate the bonds, sought Roman's help. Roman, however, only wanted to get on with his life as a family man. Soon after, Marlena was kidnapped by the ISA. She was taken to Stockholm to lure Roman there, hoping he would find the treasury bonds. Marlena tried to escape several times from her captors, failing every time. Just when she was about to be returned to Roman, a glitch occurred. Orpheus, an agent for the ISA and former partner of Roman's, had found the treasury bonds before Roman. He asked the ISA to give him Marlena in exchange for the bonds. They agreed, and Marlena then became Orpheus' prisoner. Fortunately, Roman was able to rescue her and they returned to Salem.
However, Orpheus remained a threat. He hated Roman because he had shot his wife, Rebecca, while on stakeout some years prior. Orpheus made his move as the Bradys were about to go on vacation to hide out from him; he kidnapped Marlena and set a bomb in the Brady home. Everyone thought Marlena had died in the explosion, though all they found in the remains was her wedding band. Orpheus was keeping Marlena in an island away from Salem. As Roman arrived on the island to rescue her, Orpheus put her on a plane that would take her to an unknown location. Soon after the plane took off, it suffered a malfunction and crashed into the ocean.
In
the fall of 1991, we saw Marlena once again. She wasn't dead after
all! She awakened from a coma in a foreign land. Her first instinct
was to go home and be with her family. So she stowed away on a cargo
plane bound for Miami. From there, she hitchhiked and then took a bus
for Salem. When she finally arrived, she left several clues for Roman
to pick up on. However, she began spying on him and took notice of
his bride-to-be, Isabella. Wanting Roman and Isabella to be happy
together, Marlena was determined to leave Salem forever and start
anew elsewhere. On her last night, she went to the fog-shrouded pier
to remember her life with Roman one last time and found Roman there.
Finally, Roman and Marlena reunited. Roman joyfully brought her home
to see her children once again. Although Sami and Eric were a bit
confused, they accepted Marlena and called her "Mom." Naturally,
there were many questions about where Marlena had been. She recalled
being on a Caribbean island, and having the feeling that Roman had
been there with him all along. Of course, this was impossible because
Roman had been in Salem. They had only one clue: a coin that Marlena
brought back with her. They traced the coin to the island of San
Cristobal and journeyed there to find out the truth.
In
San Cristobal, they searched the island for a clue to Marlena's
whereabouts in the previous 4 years. Marlena's biggest surprise was
when she came face to face with another Roman Brady! This Roman,
however, looked like Roman BEFORE the plastic surgery. He, too, had
been kept prisoner in a medical facility on the island and had a coin
just like Marlena's. Both Romans called each other impostors and
almost got into serious fights. The Roman found on San Cristobal
claimed that his impostor was one of Stefano's men and warned Marlena
against him. Thoroughly confused, the trio returned to Salem to
settle the question. After DNA tests were performed, it was concluded
that the Roman found on San Cristobal was the one and only Roman.
Roman the impostor changed his name back to John Black. Roman &
Marlena were still confused about where they had been. As they
continued searching, clues pointed to Cancun, Mexico. So Marlena,
John, Roman, and Isabella traveled there to find some answers. Bo and
Carly soon joined them after escaping the police in Salem, who wanted
to arrest Carly for Victor's murder. Lawrence Alamain also followed,
as he was interested in finding out John's real identity. Never one
to pass up an opportunity, Roman declared to Marlena that this trip
would be their second honeymoon.
The honeymoon was over quite quickly. They traced their coins to Chichen Itzá, an ancient Mayan city in Mexico. Roman and John believed that the truth about their pasts could be found inside the ruins. They were looking for priceless Mayan codices that would answer their questions. However, Lawrence found the codices first. While John & Roman squabbled with Lawrence over the codices, Bo arrived with a very big surprise -- Victor wasn't the one behind everything! It was Stefano DiMera. Stefano wanted to trade the codices for a valise he had containing major clues to John's identity. Just then, there was a battle between Stefano and John. Stefano tried to take the codices from John and they struggled for them. During the struggle, Stefano was shot and fell into a pyre that Stefano had lit earlier. John risked his life to get the valise from the fire and was successful. Marlena and everyone else returned to Salem to make sense of the events that had occurred.
Having
done everything possible for John, Roman and Marlena tried to rebuild
their lives together. This became a difficult task as their family
was constantly threatened by the Torres family. Roman was now the
commander of the Salem Police and was determined to bring down the
Torres syndicate, which smuggled drugs into Salem using Allied Cargo
(a company owned by Victor) ships. Roman was determined to bring the
family down, especially after their leader, Rafi Torres, kidnapped
Bo. Roman told Marlena that he had to leave Salem in order to keep Bo
alive; he also told her that Rafi had made threats against her and
the kids. Marlena was afraid that he would never come back, but Roman
assured her otherwise. One night, Roman "went out for coffee." By the
time Marlena realized that Mabel had already gone shopping that day,
it was too late. Roman was gone.
For over a month, Marlena anguished over Roman's absence. She was very angry at him for abandoning him, and at Abe and Shane for helping him without telling her. She was also having a hard time with Carrie, who was really the most impossible person to be around with at the time. Marlena had her hands full just with her attitude alone, but then she also had to deal with Carrie's relationship with Lawrence Alamain of all people. In reality, Roman was often right under her nose. He had been disguising himself as various characters, including her temporary maid, Hazel. When Rafi was finally caught, Roman arranged to see Marlena. Although they made love, she remained angry because he still couldn't return home. Rafi and his crime syndicate were still a threat to the family. Finally, when Marlena was attacked, Rafi was brought down for good. Roman then returned home and everything returned to normal, although Roman was demoted to "Captain" for the questionable methods he had used to catch Rafi.
While Roman had been playing cops and robbers, Marlena had been getting herself mixed up in things that were better left alone. For one thing, Danielle Stevens sought Marlena for therapy and told her that John was her husband. For a while, Marlena was worried about what to do with this information. She didn't have to hold on to that secret too long, as Danielle finally told John herself. Also while Roman had been undercover, Marlena had been courted by Rob Stemkowski, the hospital's lawyer in the Lombard lawsuit. In addition to that, she was attacked by two people. First of all, she was attacked by a knife-wielding young man who turned out to be Jesse Lombard. She was also attacked by Frank Patton, one of her patients. In one of their sessions, Frank confessed to Marlena that he had killed an artist. She told him to go the police but he refused, and warned her not to. Of course, she couldn't because of her Hippocratic oath. Still, Frank followed her home one night and tried to attack her. Thankfully, John was there to subdue Frank and call the police.
Speaking of the Lombards, Marlena became a tad too involved with them. The Lombards were the dysfunctional family who were suing the hospital for negligence following their son Dean's death at the hands of Dr. Chip Lakin. Marlena had tried to help Marcus and the other doctors involved with the case by counseling the various family members and doing psychological profiles on them. She mostly counseled Roger Lombard, Dean's father, who was an alcoholic. However, she also had various talks with Roger's very bitter wife, Stella. Stella was angry over her son's death and the gradual disintegration of her family. At one point, Marlena tried to tell her how she could relate to her son's death by telling her about D.J.'s death. This painful memory allowed Marlena to get much closer with Stella, although the latter still distrusted her. She also agreed tried to counsel Jesse, even after the kid had tried to stick her with a knife more than three times. Her involvement with this impossible family would bring Marlena more pain than she ever thought possible.
As Marlena continued to counsel Roger for his alcoholism, she discovered that the Lombards were the family who put the "fun" in dysfunctional. First of all, she realized that Roger physically abused Jesse, which is why he was such a violent and maladjusted kid. The problem was quickly fixed when Jesse and Carrie decided to get an apartment together. Meanwhile, Marlena continued her family therapy sessions with Roger and Stella. Shades of Roger's alcoholism showed up during these sessions. But Marlena didn't realize how devastating his disease was until Roger hit Kim Donovan while driving in a drunken haze. Marlena began to concentrate on Roger's alcohol problem, making both Stella and Roman insanely jealous. Roman wanted to see Roger be put away in prison, and was upset when Marlena recommended to the judge community service & rehab based on her psychological evaluation of Roger. Stella was upset because she believed that Roger liked Marlena and wanted to have an affair. After a few sessions with Marlena, Roger began to think that he should stop drinking. One night, when Roger had disappeared, Marlena found him in an abandoned warehouse crying. Roger explained to her that his passion had once been painting, but his drinking problem had halted his art career. Stella found Roger and Marlena there and was extremely furious. She proclaimed that if anyone was going to keep Roger from drinking it would be her!
Go to Part 2
of Marlena's history
The character of Dr. Marlena Evans
has been played by Deidre Hall from 1976-1987, and again from
1991-present