Passenger Door Lock Actuator Frozen

[steve roche]

Hi- I am new here. I have a 2007 Yaris Sedan, in Southern California... trouble-free until I decided to "fix" some things.... The passenger door has become permanently locked, from the outside and from the inside. I replaced the lock actuator on the drivers' side and everything is good, but the passenger-side actuator wasn't available until mid-July so I tried to "service" the old one via a You-tube video (I know, I know... ). Anyway, I'm looking at unbolting the front passenger fender, to access the door hinges, to remove them, and maybe force the door off (the actuator will not unlock itself). I've tried the cables, the door latch rod, and the electrics. I neglected to put the little rod into the actuator from the key-cylinder, but I did get a tool up in there to rotate that little star, to "unlock" but still, the actuator remains "deadlocked" as they say. Have I missed anything? The latch cable seems ok, but the lock cable has no play at all. The actuator is bolted inside of course, though I do have the panel off so I can access the inside of the door. I feel like the hinges are my last hope, otherwise i will have to cut into the door with a grinding tool or Sawzall. I disconnected the battery, in case I had pushed the lock/unlock buttons too many times (seems to be a Toyota thing?).
It's a great car- 268,000 miles on it, runs like new. Is there some other way to forcibly remove a locked door? Will the actuator give up if I've removed the hinges and I am gently prying it away? Thanks for any thoughts on this.