Read more about Marlena Evans at: Wikipedia

Official Site: NBC

Dr. Marlena Evans Black (formerly Craig, Brady and Bradford) is a long-running fictional character on the NBC daytime drama, Days of our Lives, a long running serial about working life in the fictional town of Salem. She was played by actress Deidre Hall since 1976, with a few minor breaks in between from 1987 to March 1991 and again in January 2009. Marlena was created by scriptwriter Pat Falken Smith and executive producer Betty Corday, as one of Days of our Lives' most well known characters. Hall made her debut on the soap on June 21, 1976, making her the fourth longest running actress on the serial, surpassed only by Frances Reid (Alice), John Clarke (Mickey), and Suzanne Rogers (Maggie). After a brief two-year absence, Hall once again reprised her role as Marlena on Monday, September 26, 2011.

Throughout the course of her existence on the program, she has experienced what some consider to be the most outrageous circumstances of any character in soap opera history. These would include possession by the devil; a plummet from a 30-story-window (which she survived); being used as a surrogate for genetically engineered babies, Rex and Cassie, during a four year coma; being mind-controlled to believe she was a serial killer; and becoming pregnant late in life and suffering a miscarriage, which caused her to have hysterical amnesia. She has also been kidnapped numerous times over the past 30 years. She is a doctor, wife, mother, twin and grandmother.

Marlena was a staple in the US press during her time on Days of our Lives, a representative of the symbiosis between American's soaps and tabloid soap magazines. Widely read tabloids, such as Soap Opera Digest and Soap Opera Weekly, would routinely publish forthcoming developments in Marlena's storylines. Marlena was well received by critics, and is notable for her popular pairing with John Black. The character is well-known even outside of the show's viewer-base. In 2010, Sheri Anderson (a former head writer for Days) began writing books about off-screen characters from the soap. John and Marlena were included in one called A Secret in Salem.

The character was brought in as the psychiatrist of already established character – Mickey Horton. This was originally intended to put her in contact with the soaps core family, the Hortons. In the '80's, Marlena eventually established her place on the show when she became romantically involved with Roman Brady – whose family by then had become another core part of the show, secondary only to the Hortons. She bore two children with him: Sami Brady, and Eric Brady. In addition to her children with Roman she is the mother of Belle Black.

Marlena Evans has not been a contender in any CBUB matches.