The Dynasty family is mourning the loss of one of its members. Kate O'Mara, the actress who played Joan Collins' sister on the 1980s ABC soap, died Sunday, March 30, her agent told the Associated Press. She was 74.
O'Mara passed away in a nursing home in Sussex, England, her agent said. She had been fighting an undisclosed illness.
Shortly after news of her death broke on Sunday, friends and former costars began tweeting tributes to the actress. "Tragic news about Kate O'Mara," Dynasty star Collins, 80, wrote. "We had great fun on Dynasty when she played my sister Caress who Alexis insisted on calling CASSIE! RIP."
Added her Doctor Who costar Colin Baker: "Oh my goodness. Kate O'Mara is no longer with us. Sad sad news. A delightful, committed, and talented lady and actress. We are the poorer."
Born Frances M. Carroll in the U.K., O'Mara was best known for playing Caress Morrell in seasons six and seven of Dynasty in the mid-1980s. She also appeared in two Doctor Who serials as the villain Rani, and in the comedy Absolutely Fabulous. More recently, she starred in a 2012 stage adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile.
Divorced twice from actors Richard Willis and Jeremy Young, O'Mara had a son, Dickon, who died last year. She is survived by her sister, Belinda Carroll.
