--- description: O'Mara played Cassandra "Caress" Morrell on the famous soap opera and starred in Dr. Who title: Kate O'Mara, Former Dynasty Star, Dies at 74 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3a2ddd94cb5dfd7/6986880aadae442fb25423d8/101609803.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [obituary](/tag/obituary/) ## obituary Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Kate O'Mara, Former _Dynasty Star_, Dies at 74 by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 30, 2014 3:35 PM CUT  Kate O'Mara, in a publicity photo for Dynasty, January 15, 1986. Kate O'Mara, in a publicity photo for Dynasty, January 15, 1986.ABC/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 30, 2014 3:35 PM CUT Kate O’Mara, the former star of the hit American soap opera Dynasty, [died](http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/30/dynasty-kate-omara-dies-age-74 "undefined") Sunday morning at the age of 74. The actor played Alexis Colby’s scheming sister Cassandra “Caress” Morrell in _Dynasty._ She also had roles in British series _Doctor Who_, _Howards’ Way_ and _Triangle_. Her agent said she died on Sunday morning in a Sussex nursing home after a short battle with an illness, the Guardian reports. She appeared in the original run of _Doctor Who_ along with Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy as renegade Time Lord The Rani. O’Mara’s first television roles were in the 1960s, but she landed her biggest gigs in the 1980s. \[[The _Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/30/dynasty-kate-omara-dies-age-74 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/42910/kate-omara-dynasty-dead/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/42910/kate-omara-dynasty-dead/"},"headline":"Kate O'Mara, Former Dynasty Star, Dies at 74","datePublished":"2014-03-30T15:35:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:02:20.050Z","description":"The actress who played Cassandra \"Caress\" Morrell on the famous soap opera and starred in the original run of Doctor Who died Sunday morning after a short battle with an illness, according to her agent. She was 74","url":"https://time.com/42910/kate-omara-dynasty-dead/","keywords":["obituary","doctor who"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3a2ddd94cb5dfd7/6986880aadae442fb25423d8/101609803.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3a2ddd94cb5dfd7/6986880aadae442fb25423d8/101609803.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"KATE O'MARA","caption":"KATE O'MARA","creditText":"ABC/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/obituary/","name":"obituary"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/42910/kate-omara-dynasty-dead/","name":"Kate O'Mara, Former Dynasty Star, Dies at 74"}}]}] ```