Daphne
DiMera is the mother of Tony DiMera and the ex-wife of Stefano
DiMera. Of all of Stefano DiMera's women, Daphne was the only one to
ever live with him for an extended length of time. Because of the
long duration of their relationship, she was Stefano's wife by common
law. That title, however, didn't garner any other privilege than to
carry the DiMera name. It was no secret to Daphne that Stefano had
affairs (and children) with numerous women, but there was nothing she
could do about that. And Daphne watched as Stefano snatched those
children from their mothers in order to mold them into an image of
himself. So when Daphne discovered that she was pregnant, she ran
away from Stefano and his influence. In Australia, Daphne gave birth
Antony DiMera. There, she raised him believing that he would escape
Stefano's grasp. But when Tony turned 18, Stefano located him and
took him to Europe to join the family business.
In
October of 1982, Daphne arrived in Salem, where Tony and Stefano were
now living. The absence of Tony had severely affected her mental
state over the years, causing her to be insecure and paranoid. More
than just paranoid, Daphne demonstrated a paralyzing fear of Stefano.
Stefano was not thrilled to see Daphne, but welcomed her in his house
because, after all, she was a DiMera. Tony assured his mother over
and over again that Stefano would never harm her, but Daphne
continued to be scared of him. Confined to the mansion, Daphne
befriended Tony's pregnant wife, Liz Chandler. Liz was well aware of
what Stefano was capable of, but she wondered why Daphne feared him
so much. In confidence, Daphne told Liz of the ruthless way in which
Stefano had murdered one of her servants. During this time, Tony
began to think about leaving Salem because of personal problems that
he was having. Naturally, this angered Stefano. Thinking that Daphne
was the cause of Tony's decision, Stefano angrily warned Daphne to
leave Salem. After Stefano's threat, Daphne's fragile mental state
deteriorated rapidly and she fell into a deep depression. Tony tried
to find out what had Daphne so depressed, but she wouldn't say a
word. Worried about her, Tony took Daphne to see psychiatrist Dr.
Marlena Evans. Having no one else to turn to, Daphne warned Marlena
that if she were to die before leaving Salem, it would be Stefano's
doing. Marlena was unsure of whether Daphne's fears were real or
imaginary but recommended medical observation. As the days wore on,
Daphne grew even more distressed. She finally expressed her deadly
fear of Stefano to Tony while rambling incoherent thoughts one day.
Befuddled, Tony took her to the hospital to be examined. During her
examination, however, Daphne rambled once again; but this time, she
said what a wonderful father Tony had. Following, the examination,
Daphne was admitted into the hospital for observation. Tony stayed by
her side, worried and wondering what was wrong with her. Comforting
his mother, Tony mentioned the personal problems he was having: he
was in love with his half-sister Renée, who, on that day, was
getting married to David Banning. Heartbroken by his son's dilemma,
Daphne finally told Tony what had been troubling her all of this
time. It directly affected his situation with
Renée.
Years before, while living with Stefano, Daphne had had an on-going affair with Enrico, a Greek DiMera employee. When Stefano found out about the affair, he had Enrico killed in an auto accident. Daphne told Tony that Enrico was his father, not Stefano. Therefore, if he really loved Renée, he should go stop that wedding! Though Tony wasn't able to stop the wedding on time, he did verify Daphne's tale by checking Stefano's blood type. There was no possible way that he and Stefano were father and son. However, Daphne warned Tony to never let Stefano know the truth. Otherwise, he would kill both of them because they wouldn't have the DiMera name to protect them. Daphne remained in the hospital for the next couple of months. In February of 1983, however, Stefano came to visit her. He had witnessed Tony and Renée being much closer than siblings should be and had begun questioning Tony's parentage. Under threats from Stefano, Daphne finally admitted that Tony wasn't his son at all. The news stunned Stefano so much that he simply walked out of the room in silence. Not long after this, Stefano was arrested for various crimes and died of a stroke while in jail.
Following
Stefano's death, Daphne's condition quickly improved. Moving back
into the mansion, she befriended Renée and did everything in
her power to get her and Tony back together. Even though Renée
was married to David and determined to make her marriage work, she
admitted to Daphne that she still had feelings for Tony. Meanwhile,
Daphne noticed that Anna Brady, Tony's secretary, was making a play
for Tony. Daphne deeply distrusted Anna but Tony had complete
confidence in the woman. In addition, he was resigned to giving up
Renée. Soon after this, Tony went on a business trip to Las
Vegas with Anna; they returned as husband and wife. To add insult to
injury, she soon claimed to pregnant with his baby. Daphne believed
that Anna was lying about the baby, and that she had tricked Tony
into marriage. However, Tony stood by his new bride, claiming that he
loved her. As for the fake baby, Anna managed to convince Daphne that
it was real with the help of a nurse at the hospital.
Meanwhile, Daphne also meddled into Liz's life. No longer Tony's wife, Liz loved Neil Curtis, who was married to Marie Horton. In spite of Neil's marriage, Daphne encouraged Liz to pursue Neil one day while Marie was out of town, and seduce him because she was sure that he loved her. Liz followed Daphne's advice. That night, Daphne heard that Marie had been shot in her own home. Neil had been at work at the time. Realizing that the only person who could possibly have been in Neil's house was Liz, Daphne went to her. In tears, Liz admitted that she had shot Marie. After making love with Neil and he left for work, Liz had seen a burglar breaking into the house. She hadn't known that the "burglar" was Marie! Worried for Liz, Daphne vowed to help her get rid of all of the evidence. And they did, except for a scarf that belonged to Liz. As the police closed in on Liz, Daphne grew more nervous. Finally, Roman Brady figured out that Daphne knew something about the shooting and threatened to have her deported if she didn't talk. Reluctantly, Daphne confessed everything. Liz wound up being sent to prison.
By this point, Renée and David were on their way to divorce. Meanwhile, Tony and Anna's marriage also broke up after she suffered a miscarriage. At this time, Daphne discovered that Stefano had written a second will before dying which left everything to Renée. This will was in Alex's possession. Knowing that Alex would try to get Renée to marry him in order to inherit Stefano's fortune, Daphne desperately tried to get Renée and Tony back together. Unfortunately, this was much more difficult now. Tony had begun to suspect Renée of causing Anna's miscarriage. Daphne didn't care, however. She needed for Tony to marry Renée at any cost and tried to convince Renée that Tony still loved her. But since Tony's were painfully clear, Renée ignored Daphne's inexplicable advice. Soon after this, Renée discovered the second will, and that Daphne had known of its existence. Feeling betrayed, Renée vowed to cut Daphne off without a cent of Stefano's money. That evening, Renée held an elegant enagement party at the mansion. However, Renée used the party to announce the second will, and to denounce everyone who had betrayed her. This included Daphne. In a hurtful speech, Renée swore to leave Daphne penniless. Later that night, Renée was found dead in her bedroom.
Because of Renée's threat against her, Daphne was one of the main murder suspects. Although Daphne didn't kill Renée, she did know about the murder long before her body was found. Some time after Renée's speech, Daphne had gone upstairs to talk to her and seen her body on the floor. In the end, the murderer turned out to be André DiMera, one of Stefano's nephews who had plastic surgery in order to look exactly like Tony. In the time following Renée's death, Daphne spent much of her own time travelling to Europe, where she met Kimberly Brady. Kimberly soon returned to Salem and stayed at Daphne's penthouse for a while.
At
this time, Daphne received an ominous package that seemed to be from
Stefano. Disgusted by the package, she threw it on the floor, which
caused a gaudy piece of jewelry to pop out of it. It was a necklace
with a huge crystal hanging from it. In reality, the crystal was the
second of three prisms that half of Salem and the ISA were looking
for. Daphne didn't know what it was, and casually loaned it to
various people before putting it in the bank. At this time, Daphne
suffered a heart attack and almost died. Many people came by trying
to learn the location of the necklace, including Megan Hathaway,
Stefano's secret daughter. Megan didn't learn the necklace's
location, but managed to plant Kate Honeycutt as Daphne's private
nurse in order to spy on her. When Daphne recovered from her
attack, she was approached by Calliope Jones, a seamstress at Anna
DiMera Designs, to use the necklace in an upcoming photo shoot in
Haiti. Daphne decided to let them use the necklace, as long as she
got to come along on the shoot. Unfortunately, the plane that was
taking her, Honeycutt, Calliope, Liz, Tony, Anna, Bo Brady, Hope
Williams, and Carlo Forenza to Haiti veered off course and crashed in
a deserted Caribbean island. Daphne suffered extreme injuries in the
crash, as well as another heart attack. Tony came to her during her
last moments of life. However, there was something odd about him. In
reality, it was André impersonating Tony once again! Daphne
tried to warn the other survivors about him, but she died just as she
was beginning to tell them. She was buried there in a pauper's grave
constructed by the survivors of the crash.
The character of Daphne DiMera was
played by Madlyn Rhue from 1982-1984