The name Linda Evans immediately brings to mind the nine years the actress spent on “Dynasty,” the show that epitomized 1980s opulence and glamour. As Krystle Grant Jennings Carrington, Evans not only made shoulder pads a must-have fashion accessory, she kept viewers tuning in to see her legendary sparring matches with co-star Joan Collins.

Well, get ready for the fur to fly again because Evans and Collins are set to hit the stage in Legends at the San Diego Civic Center Jan. 9-14, with the bitchy barbs and trademarked catfights fans have come to expect from the duo intact some 20 years later.

“We do this with each other very effortlessly, for some reason,” Evans said in regard to re-teaming with her onscreen nemesis, Joan Collins. “We just know how to play these parts with each other. It was just something that was very easy to walk into.”

The Gay & Lesbian Times spoke with Evans about the show that launched her into the primetime stratosphere, the trials of performing live and what life is like for the actress today. Throughout the interview, she was every bit as gracious as her television counterpart.

Evans got her start as an actress in the 1960s. Her first acting role was on the John Forsyth TV show “Bachelor Father,” where she played a teenager who developed a crush on the titular character. In a twist of television irony, Forsyth would later play her husband, Blake Carrington, on “Dynasty.”

From that point on, the blonde-haired ingénue made the rounds, with guest shots on such series as “The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,” “The Untouchables” and “My Favorite Martian.”

1965 proved to be a banner year when she landed a role as Sugar Kane in the wildly popular “Beach Blanket Bingo” as well as a role on a regular series, “The Big Valley,” as Audra Barkley, which she did for four years.

Keeping a character fresh as an actress has not only kept Evans on her toes but also helped her catch her next wave of success on a little nighttime soap opera known as “Dynasty.”

“The challenge also has to do with the writing,” she said. “In ‘Dynasty’ and ‘Big Valley’ we had a new script every week that would evolve our character in some way. But it definitely does change as time goes on. You do get different feelings about and awareness of what you could do.”

When “Dynasty” premiered in 1981, it certainly didn’t shy away from verboten subject matter.

“I especially loved the first three years of the show because that’s when they dealt with all the leading edge issues that had not been dealt with much on television – mental illness and Steven being gay,” Evans recalled. “To me, that was exciting to hear things said that hadn’t been said before and gone into depth with.”

The show found quite a fan base with gay viewers, becoming a secondary dysfunctional family for millions week after week.

“I certainly think that people in general just felt in a way that it was wondrous to see that the rich didn’t have it all, that we had just as many problems as everyone else in the world,” Evans said about the universal appeal of the show. “I think the way that they had the sets and the clothes, and the relationships with the people, I think that a lot of people identified with themselves and aspects of themselves and different characters that they could identify with and care about and want to see how they got through something.”

Evans left the show before the end of the ninth season had finished (her character was stricken with a brain tumor, but not killed off so that Evans could come back, if need be), taking along with her some very fond memories of what made “Dynasty” special for her.

“There were several different things that I really enjoyed. I enjoyed when Krystle got to have her baby. I really enjoyed the first time I got to beat up Alexis!” she said with a wicked laugh. “Because the writers had the script where she [Alexis] usually had the upper hand – verbally and in the situation – because she was ruthless and willing to do anything. So it was fun to know that there was some kind of resolve to these frustrating moments that were created.”

There was even a storyline that saw Evans playing dual roles as Krystle and her look-alike, Rita, and the two got into a scuffle with each other.

“Oh, my god, the nightmare of it!” she said. “That was difficult to play both parts. It was almost like I had a mental problem or something. It was just outrageous!”

Evans has revisited her role as Krystle Carrington on “Dynasty: The Reunion,” a four-hour miniseries that brought most of the original cast together to tie up loose ends from the series’ cancellation in 1991. And in 2006, there was “Dynasty Reunion: Catfights and Caviar,” an interview/retrospective special with the cast members celebrating the 25th anniversary of the beloved television show.

Now the stage is literally set for the comedic elements of Legends to supplant the dramatic feast that was “Dynasty.” There’s even a smack-down (sans a lily pond) as Evans and Collins play two rival actresses who are tricked into performing together. While this may sound like old hat for Evans, the prospect of performing live in Legends presented a new set of challenges.

“The theater was just a complete mind-blowing experience for me in the beginning, and I’m playing a lot of catch-up because Joan’s done theater since she was 12, and I’ve never done theater,” she said. “In the theater, it’s like the movie Groundhog Day: You just keep repeating the same scenario. I keep finding myself doing the same experience over and over again in different ways.

“But what I hadn’t counted on that I have loved and really enjoyed is the audience,” she continued. “I mean, my god, the people have been so wonderful, and it is just like an incredible gift. There’s kind of a wonderful intimacy that happens that I’ve never experienced before.”

Getting into the skin of her character, Leatrice, had an oddly familiar feel for Evans.

“Leatrice has a lot of qualities that Krystle had, but she has a lot of other qualities that Krystle never expressed,” Evans explained. “And, yes, she was the star that played the good girl, the nurses, the nuns and the saints, but you didn’t become a star in those days, and you didn’t become who you were – a legend – without having another side of you.”

Nowadays, the 64-year-old actress is subscribed to a life far removed from the one she created for herself in Hollywood and on “Dynasty.” Evans resides in Tacoma, Wash., and is very content with the life she has created for herself.

“My life is better today than it has ever been, and time has taught me so much,” she said. “Getting older – I mean, being 64 – I have learned so much from life and I’m so much wiser than I was when I was younger. I’m so much happier because I’ve let go of so much of the garbage of my life that was running me … I am really having the time of my life.”

For more information about Legends, log on to www.broadwaysd.com