Y&R’s Beth Maitland (Traci) clearly recalls when Marla Adams (ex-Dina) came on board as her character’s estranged mother in 1983. “Marla, is, and always will be, sort of bigger than life, and she first came in with so much presence,” Maitland relays. “The feel was almost like old-world Hollywood and she was the queen of her airspace. That being my first impression of her, she was a little intimidating, although not unwarm. Our scenes were very emotional and interesting because Dina had abandoned her children and Traci, the youngest, felt her mother never noticed her. So, it was a very adversarial relationship.” Despite the fictional turmoil, the women developed a strong bond. “I started calling her Mutie, just as a nickname for mother and I still call her that when I call her on the phone,” Maitland smiles. “We still have a lovely relationship and I’m very close to her, but it started in a real interesting, but not negative, first meeting.”