Wednesday, July 25, 2012

50 Greatest Soap Couples: #26 Cord & Tina From ONE LIFE TO LIVE

COUPLE: Cord Roberts & Tina Lord
SHOW: ONE LIFE TO LIVE
RANK: 26
PLAYED BY:
Cord: John Loprieno
Tina: Andrea Evans, Karen Witter, Krista Tesreau
YEARS: 1986-1991, 1993-1997, 2008, 2011

STORY:
When Tina read a letter Maria Roberts (BarBara Luna) had sent to Clint Buchanan (Clint Ritchie), she had no idea it would change her life forever.  Tina flew to El Paso to find out more about Maria and ended up meeting and falling in love with her son, Cord.  Tina became engaged to Richard Abbott but called off the wedding when Mitch Laurence (Roscoe Born) revealed that Cord was really Clint's son.  Tina and Cord got married and Tina blackmailed Asa into giving him a million dollar inheritance supposedly from Al Roberts, the man he thought was his father.  Cord eventually found out and dumped Tina.


Tina was pregnant with Cord's baby when, on a trip to Argentina with Max Holden (James DePaiva), fell over the Iguazu Falls and was presumed dead.  She showed up the next year just in time for Cord's wedding to Kate Sanders (Marcia Cross), and passing off Gabrielle Medina's (Fiona Hutchison) baby as her own since hers had died (later it was revealed that baby was alive).  Maria learns the truth about the baby and tried to blackmail Tina into divorcing Cord.  Eventually Maria died as a result of a poison she had intended to be used to kill Viki Buchanan (Erika Slezak).  Tina was charged with Maria's murder and stood trial where the truth about baby Al came out.  Tina and Cord divorced but were in and out of each other's orbit for years.  In their 2011 return to Llanview they reunited and were married again.

IMPACT:
The adventures of Tina and Cord were quite epic and memorable.  Tina going over the Falls is one of those classic soap opera moments everyone thinks about from the 1980s.

Evans was nominated as Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series at the 1988 Daytime Emmy Awards.  She also picked up nominations at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1986 for Outstanding Villainess in a Daytime Serial and Outstanding Young Leading Actress on a Daytime Serial, and in 1988 for Outstanding Villainess: Daytime.  Also in 1988, Loprieno was nominated as Outstanding Hero: Daytime.

Loprieno went on to play Brad in AS THE WORLD TURNS and received a WGA and Emmy nomination in 2006 as part of the ONE LIFE TO LIVE writing team.

Evans, who starred in THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS during a break from ONE LIFE TO LIVE, went on to play memorable roles in PASSIONS and THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL.

From Patrick Erwin (A THOUSAND OTHER WORLDS): Cord and Tina were passionate and over-the-top lovers, ripped from a pulp paperback, and were always great fun to watch – though I’d always wonder when Tina would screw it up! I’d also give Cord and Tina an award for the characters-returning-to-cancelled-soaps-at-the-end who got the best resolution – at least romantically. Their reunion and wedding was perfect and honored their characters and their love in a beautiful, full-circle moment.

CLASSIC CLIPS:
Cord and Tina fall in love (1986)
Tina goes over the Falls, then shows up at Cord & Kate's wedding
Tina's 'Dating Game' Fantasy (1988)
Cord returns from the dead (1993)

Share your thoughts on Cord and Tina in our Comments section below or on our message board.

RELATED:
- 50 Greatest Soap Opera Actors: The Complete List
- 50 Greatest Soap Opera Actresses: The Complete List
- THE COMPLETE LIST: 25 Biggest Blunders In Daytime Soap Opera History

4 comments:

  1. Cord returning from the dead happened in 1993, not 1933!!! And you also have that listed under one of the classic clips for the Phillip and Beth post, too!

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  2. And Andrea Evans stopped playing Tina in 1990, not 1991 during her second stint on OLTL when she was first with Cord!

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  3. And I also wished you would've also included the clips of when Cord and Tina came back to OLTL for the last time in 2011 to get married!

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  4. They were the first soap couple I LOVED, I was around 8 when Tina went over the falls and it is one moment that I always remember from OLTL. So far I totally agree with the OLTL couples, I am still hoping my other two faves from the show will make the the list too.

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