The Time Days Of Our Lives' Judi Evans Was Knocked Unconscious On Set

Soap opera veteran Judi Evans has made a successful career of out daytime television, first landing on the classic CBS soap "Guiding Light" as sweet heroine Beth Raines in 1983 when she was just 18 years old. The next year, she won a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress, making her the youngest actress to ever win in that category (via Soap Hub).

She remained with "Guiding Light" until 1986, and Evans soon turned up on NBC's "Days of Our Lives" as Adrienne Johnson, a character she played off and on until 2019. Evans has also sporadically played Adrienne's doppelganger, Bonnie Lockhart, on the soap, whom she is still bringing to life in 2022 (via IMDb).

In between "Days of Our Lives" stints, Evans played Paulina Cory on the now-defunct "Another World." While there, an incident on the set led to quite a shock for Evans and her co-stars.

As the second actress to play Paulina Cory — with the first being Cali Timmins — Judi Evans made the part her own, and her chemistry with both Tom Eplin's Jake McKinnon and Joe Barbara's Joe Carlino made her one of the most popular heroines in "Another World" history. 

Evans played Paulina from 1991 until the soap left the airwaves and the fictional town of Bay City was no more in 1999. During that time, Paulina went from misunderstood vixen with a chip on her shoulder (because she never knew her wealthy father before he died) to a wife and mother with a heart of gold who would have done anything for her family and the people she loved (via Soap Central).

While she was torn between Jake and Joe for years, she ended up with Joe when "Another World" came to a close as Jake was about to move to Oakdale and "As the World Turns" (via IMDb). However, a scene with Jake will stay in Evans' mind forever.

It may have been many years ago, back in the 1990s, but Judi Evans will never forget what happened in a fight scene between Russell Todd's Jamie Frame and Tom Eplin's Jake McKinnon in which Paulina was just supposed to be an innocent bystander. Evans posted a short 10-second clip of the scene on Instagram, explaining what happened.

"Who wants some behind the scenes stories?!" Evans recently asked. "Here's one from #AnotherWorld. You'll notice I jump back far when Tom approaches Jamie to punch him."

Indeed, Evans does step back, but, in one of the takes, she may have not jumped back far enough because what happened next caused a dramatic on-set moment.

"Well, on the first take, Tom accidentally clocked me and knocked me out cold," Evans continued, absolving her co-star of all wrongdoing and placing blame on the small studio in Brooklyn where "Another World" was shot. "Poor Tom, he felt so bad, I woke up to him crying over me, but it was a total accident! The blocking was a little tight on that Brooklyn set. I was ok, but I decided to keep my distance the next time around."

Evans has proven time and time again that she is a trooper as she experienced both a debilitating horseback-riding accident and a bout with COVID-19, which she caught while in the hospital recovering from the accident (via Variety).