Renée
DuMonde is the daughter of Stefano
DiMera and Lee DuMonde. She
is the half-sister of Megan Hathaway, Benjy Hawk, Lexie Brooks, and
Elvis Banks (and counting the re-written history, Tony
DiMera.) She is the ex-wife
of David Banning and Alex Marshall.
In January of 1981, Renée DuMonde arrived in Salem out of the blue. After getting directions to Doug's Place, she entered Doug William's office and announced that she was his sister-in-law. Doug was at the time married to her older sister, Lee, and was shocked to hear that Lee even had a sister. When Renée finally met her sister at her penthouse, Lee acted cool toward her, wishing that she hadn't come, but allowed her to stay there. Renée had always resented Lee for leaving their home while she was still very young because their father, who used to beat Lee, had turned his anger toward Renée after Lee had left. Lee informed Renée that she and Doug were separated, but would soon be together again. She begged Renée to stay out of her business so that she wouldn't mess things up. Lee particularly wanted Renée to keep quiet about her past; Lee had previously been a prostitute. Renée promised not to tell, as long as she didn't need to do so.
Meanwhile, Renée decided to spend time with Todd Chandler, whom she'd met the day she arrived in Salem. Although she knew that Todd was in love with Jessica Blake, Renée was intent on stealing him. After he had an argument with Jessica, Renée seduced him and they made love. However, the morning after Todd told Renée that he still loved Jessica and that what had happened between them hadn't really meant anything. Renée was furious with Todd and bitterly told him off, but later apologized to him when she got a job at the Body Connection, where he also worked.
One
day, Renée got a mysterious phone call from a man from Lee's
past. The hints that the man dropped led Renée to believe that
he was Brent Cavanaugh, Lee's former pimp. The man asked Renée
to meet him in secret to find out if it was him. When she finally met
him, Renée didn't recognize him. The man proved he was Brent
by supplying bits of information, but his face was completely
different. Brent explained that he'd had plastic surgery, and that
his name was now Brad Connors. He needed Renée to help him
because Lee owed him $100,000 from a job that he had done for her
some months before. He gave her a ring that Lee had given him as
partial payment, and asked him to show it to her to force her to pay
up. Without caring too much about the details, Renée promised
Brent that she'd help him get Lee's money. And sure enough, when
Renée showed Lee the ring, she coughed up $25,000 as a pay
installment. However, Lee warned Renée that Brent was
extremely dangerous. Renée, however, didn't heed her advice.
She continued to meet with Brent, who now wanted $80,000 to settle
his score with Lee. During this time, Renée discovered that
Lee could actually stand out of her wheelchair. When Lee asked her
not to tell because it would ruin her chances to get Doug back,
Renée promised to keep quiet...for $80,000. Lee initially
refused to give her the money, but later paid when Brent himself
contacted her and blackmailed her with other information.
Renée wished to know what Brent was holding over Lee's head
but neither one of them would say. Some time later, Renée
found out from Doug that Brent had tried to kill Julie
Williams the year before, and
that the police knew he was back in town trying to kill her again.
Realizing that Brent had stolen her keys to Lee's penthouse, where
Lee was talking with Julie, Renée and Doug rushed there. Lee
and Julie managed to survive (Lee killed Brent in self-defense), but
Renée felt extremely guilty for her part in Brent's scheme.
She tearfully begged Lee for forgviness, and the two sisters finally
reconciled.
Meanwhile, Renée worked on getting back in Todd's good graces.
Working to her advantage was the fact that Jessica's adoptive father,
Alex Marshall, despised Todd. Alex paid Renée to do everything
possible to break up Todd and Jessica. However, when it came to light
that Alex was Jessica's real father, Renée was curious to know
who her mother was. Of course, Alex refused to tell Renée, so
she threatened to tell Jessica that she'd paid him to sabotage her
relationship with Todd. Alex promised her that if she did that, she'd
never see the light of day again. And thus ended Alex and
Renée's brief partnership. Renée continued to chase
after Todd, but her infatuation with him didn't stop her from
flirting with other wealthy men in Salem, such as Chris Kositchek and
David Banning. As soon as Chris began responding to her advances,
Todd began seeming like a distant memory.
But that memory would soon come back to haunt her. Just when she and Chris were beginning to date, Todd found himself without Jessica, who had decided to become a nun. And so, he turned to none other than Renée for comfort. When Chris noticed that Todd was trying to take advantage of Renée, they got into a terrible fight at the Body Connection that sent Chris to the hospital with a concussion. The incident awakened Renée to the fact that she cared deeply about Chris, and no longer desired to be with Todd. Renée took care of Chris all the while he was in the hospital and became convinced that she loved him. Meanwhile, she pitched an idea to David Banning, manager of Stuart Whyland's radio station, for a gossip talkshow. The idea soon became a reality, and Renée got her own talkshow on the radio. The night of her show's premiere, she said hello to a "special someone", meaning Chris. After the show, Renée invited Chris to the penthouse to celebrate with her. But they didn't celebrate. Instead, Chris broke the news to her that he couldn't return the feelings she had toward him. He was afraid to make any sort of commitment, and so he gently told her to seek a relationship with someone more deserving of her. Though they agreed to remain friends, Renée was destroyed by Chris' rejection and vowed to never love anyone again.
During this time, Renée dedicated herself to making her radio show a hit. One night after having dinner with Todd at the Salem Inn, Renée walked by one of the rooms and saw Alex Marshall on the floor bleeding; above him was David Banning holding a gun. Screaming that David had murdered Alex, Renée called the police. Alex wasn't dead, but David was promptly arrested and indicted for his attempted murder thanks to Renée's account of what she saw. The case drew a lot of negative attention, so Renée held a press conference to clear the air to the public about what she'd seen. As a result, David and a host of other people accused Renée of trying to gain publicity for herself at the expense of his freedom. All of this changed one day in court, when Renée was approached by someone posing as a reporter. During their conversation, Renée dropped some papers and the man graciously bent over to pick them up. Inside his coat pocket, Renée saw a gun. Intrigued, Renée spied on the man after their conversation was over, and overheard him on the telephone saying that he'd make sure David was killed once he was sent to prison. Terrified, Renée visited David in jail and told him what she'd heard. During David's trial, it had been revealed that David had been dealing drugs in Los Angeles; David assumed that the people he had worked for in Los Angeles were now the people setting him up for Alex's shooting, and the ones planning to kill him in prison. David told Renée to keep quiet about the man and she agreed. Nevertheless, she tried to do everything possible to get David out of jail, including going on her radio show and announcing that David was an innocent man.
Shortly after this, David was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison. While being transferred to the state prison, he escaped. Some time after his escape, Renée received a phone call from David telling to tell Julie that he was fine. Relieved to hear that David was okay, Renée believed that it would bring her show high ratings if it was revealed that she was David's one and only contact while he was missing. Soon after this, Renée discovered that David was staying in the basement of the radio station and offered to bring him food and clothes. However, she secretly taped their conversation. As time went by, however, Renée came to care David and fear for his life, so she scrapped the idea of writing a story on David for the radio. Unfortunately, discovered the tape, listened to it, and lost all trust in Renée thinking that she was taping their conversations for the police. In spite of this, Renée continued to help David and even traveled to Los Angeles to investigate the drug ring that David worked for. She didn't find much to clear David of Alex's shooting, but her trip proved to David that she was telling the truth about helping him.
During this time, the police began looking for a serial killer, the Salem Strangler, after several women were killed. For various reasons, the police suspected that the Strangler worked at The Body Connection, so they searched lockers. During the search, the police found the tape of David and Renée. Now that the police knew that she was in contact with David, they couldn't meet anymore. In addition to shooting Alex, the police now had reason to believe that David was the Strangler. But on Renée's birthday, David showed up at her party at the penthouse disguised as a clown. Once alone, Renée confessed her feelings for him and invited him to spend the night with her. David also admitted that he cared for her, but confessed that he also still loved his ex-wife, Trish. That night, David spent the night in Renée's bed but they didn't make love. Meanwhile, someone sneaked into the penthouse and into Renée's bedroom, and proceeded to hide in the closet. In the morning, David left. As Renée was getting up, the man in the closet, the Salem Strangler, came out and wrapped his pink scarf around Renée's neck. Renée unexpectedly sprung backwards, allowing her a brief moment to scream. Frightened, the Strangler ran out, leaving Renée unconscious on the floor. Fortunately, the paramedics arrived in time to revive Renée. After some complicated surgery, Renée was stabilized but remained unconscious; her larynx and vocal chords had been severely damaged, and she'd suffered an extreme lack of oxygen to the brain. After being stabilized, she was placed on a respirator. Over the Christmas holidays, the Strangler sneaked into her room and tried to kill her again. This time, by trying to shut off her respirator. Luckily, Dr. Evan Whyland arrived in time to save Renée. After some time, Renée regained consciousness and, even though she couldn't speak, was able to clear David of being the Strangler.
Unfortunately,
Renée couldn't remember who had attacked her. As Renée
recovered, she was invited by Stefano DiMera, a close friend of
Lee's, to stay in his home. He wanted to look out for her safety
since the Strangler was intent on killing her. The DiMera mansion had
a sophisticated alarm system, and so Stefano felt it would be the
safest place for Renée to stay. Flattered, Renée
accepted the offer. In the DiMera house, Renée was pampered
like she'd never been before, in particular by Stefano's son, Tony.
He took a liking to Renée and showered her with gifts and
spectacular breakfasts in bed, complete with white roses. It was
obvious that Tony liked Renée. However, she only seemed
interested in a friendship since she was still infatuated with David.
Now that he was cleared of being the Strangler (and of shooting
Alex), David and Renée began dating. Unfortunately, the threat
of the Strangler loomed over their heads, so David and Renée
were confined to have dinners at the DiMera mansion and double-dates
with Jake
Kositchek and Jessica Blake.
Another problem that hindered Renée and David's budding
relationship was David's lingering feelings for Trish. Renée
was willing to give David time to get over Trish but only if he could
assure her that there was a future for them. Meanwhile, she continued
to grow closer to Tony, to Lee's chagrin.
During
this time, Renée was treated by Dr.
Marlena Evans in order to
break through the mental block that prevented her from remembering
more about her attacker. Putting Renée under hypnosis, Marlena
discovered that Renée had seen the Strangler's face in her
bedroom mirror! Using that very mirror, Marlena tried to get
Renée to remember her attacker's face. She didn't.
Renée only saw him as a shadow. However, Renée did
remember the Strangler's cologne. Marlena applied a hypnotic
suggestion so that Renée would react to that same cologne if
she smelled it again. The police had Renée come in contact
with their Strangler suspects to see who she would react to, but
nobody's cologne matched. Meanwhile, Renée continued to busy
herself inviting friends over to the mansion. One night while
entertaining David, Jessica, and Jake, Renée innocently
commented on the fact that the mansion's security system collapsed
during thunderstorms. Unbeknownst to her, Jake was the Strangler, and
she had just told him how to gain full access into the mansion. One
stormy night, while Renée slept, Jake sneaked into the house
prepared to kill her. As Renée was awakened by a sound in her
room, Jake once again wrapped a silk scarf around Renée's neck
in order to strangle her. This time, Renée elbowed Jake in the
stomach, giving her a chance to scream her lungs out and causing Jake
to flee from the scene. Fed up with the Strangler threat, Tony asked
Renée to leave Salem with him. Together, they drove for parts
unknown and vowed to remain away until the Strangler was
caught.
After
driving for a while, Renée and Tony arrived at the Greenbriar
Inn and decided to rest there. Registered under false names and
posing as a married couple, Tony and Renée stayed there. With
the police actively searching for them, Renée and Tony had to
secretly receive money from Liz, Tony's wife. After almost being
found by the police, they managed to escape from the hotel and drive
out to the mountains, where they stayed in an abandoned cabin.
Throughout all of this, Tony made his feelings for Renée
known. Renée was surprised by his attraction to her, and even
more surprised when she realized that she had feelings for him as
well. After a couple of weeks, Renée and Tony finally pledged
their love for each other. At that point, Tony proposed marriage.
Naturally, Renée accepted. She immediately wanted to consumate
their relationship, but Tony thought it best to wait until they
returned to Salem and married. Shortly after this, however, Roman
Brady and Marlena arrived at the cabin. Marlena had gone there to
tell Renée that Lee had unexpectedly left Salem for parts
unknown. Furthermore, Lee had left Marlena an envelope that she was
to give Renée. Marlena had an idea of what was inside the
envelope and asked Renée to prepare herself for a shock. Alone
in the cabin, Renée opened the envelope to find a letter,
Lee's journal, and a locket. When she read the letter, Renée
broke out in tears. In it, Lee revealed to Renée that she was
her mother, and that Stefano DiMera was her father! Lee's entries in
her journal detailed her relationship with Stefano and her pregnancy,
thus confirming Lee's claims in the letter. And finally, the locket
contained two photos: one of Renée as a baby, and the other of
Stefano. Renée was horrified by this discovery because it only
meant that she had fallen in love with her own brother.
As soon as she finished reading the letter, Renée pushed Tony away. She didn't give him an explanation; she only told him that they had made a terrible mistake. Tony knew that something Lee wrote in the letter caused Renée to reject, but she refused to show him the letter. Renée tried to put Tony out of her life by moving out of the mansion and accepting an invitation from the Hortons, but Tony didn't stop pursuing her. Meanwhile, she decided to search for Lee to get more answers from her. When she went to Lee's penthouse to search for a clue to where she might have gone, Renée looked over the letter once again. At that moment, Tony arrived and snatched the letter from Renée's hands. Tony denounced everything in the letter as vicious lies to keep him and Renée apart. When Stefano was shown the letter, he, too, didn't believe it. However, he ordered blood tests on him and Renée to make sure. To his surprise, it was true. Renée was Stefano DiMera's daughter. As soon as these news were made public, Stefano officially welcomed Renée into the family by throwing her a party at the mansion, and asking her to move back in. Renée didn't really have much of a desire to move in, but the Stefano informed her that he had found Lee. He promised to never harm Lee and to maintain her...as long as Renée came to live with him as his daughter. To protect her mother, Renée moved back into the mansion. Tony and Renée decided to act as brother and sister and forget their relationship, but that proved to be very difficult. Now that Renée was a DiMera, Stefano eagerly searched for a suitable husband for her. Taking into account her past with David Banning, Stefano encouraged her to pursue him. Renée refused at first, because she still had feelings for Tony. But when she found out that Tony was still married to Liz Chandler, and that they were sleeping together, Renée forced herself to go after David.
As
far as Renée was concerned, that wasn't a bad idea. She still
liked David, and David still held feelings for her. However, he was
dating Kayla
Brady now. Subtly,
Renée began to sabotage their relationship. If Kayla had a
date with David, Renée would meet David first and coax her
into spending time with her. Or she spent time with David and made
him late for a date with Kayla. Or she babysat Scotty more, gaining
Scotty's friendship and therefore his approval as his father's
girlfriend. In the end, Renée's underhand tactics worked.
Kayla and David broke up, while David got closer to her. And yet,
Renée felt ashamed of the way she'd stolen David from Kayla.
Renée felt that she had a "dark" side that occasionally
slipped out, and blamed that dark side for her actions against Kayla.
This would not be the last time that the "bad" Renée would
slip out. Nevertheless, she continued to date David. This time,
things proved to be much more successful. They quickly became lovers,
much to Stefano and Tony's chagrin. Though Tony was clearly jealous
of David, Stefano was more concerned with Renée's image. He
didn't want a tramp for a daughter and urged her to marry David. And
so, Renée began to convince David to marry her. After many
attempts, David finally admitted that he loved Renée and
proposed marriage. In mid-November, Renée and David were
married in a lavish ceremony. Tony mysteriously missed the wedding,
and continued to act strangely once he arrived at the reception.
Before leaving on her honeymoon, Renée was confronted by Tony,
who had some shocking information: he wasn't Stefano's son! Despite
this, Renée put her feelings aside, forcing herself to believe
that she loved David and was happy to be married to him
Following
a short Paris honeymoon, Renée and David returned to Salem and
she had to face the problem of Tony once again. He was convinced that
she stil loved him (which she did) and would not leave her alone,
constantly reminding her of what they'd once shared. Renée
continued to deny her feelings for Tony until, one day, the stress
became too much for her to bear and she fell down the stairs. She
wasn't seriously injured. But during her stay at the hospital,
Renée finally anguished over what could've been and accepted
that she still loved Tony. Finally, she came to a decision. She would
stay with David. She forced herself to suppress her feelings for Tony
and was determined to make her marriage work. Unfortunately, the
marriage to David was not working out at all. Ever since the
honeymoon, David had submerged himself in a business project to turn
Doug's Place into a lodge. His long work hours kept him from giving
Renée the necessary attention. Constant fights over this began
tearing them apart. During this time, Renée conveniently
turned to Tony for comfort. She confessed that she still loved him
but she didn't want to destroy his marriage or hurt David. However,
Tony promised one thing: as soon as Liz gave birth to his baby, he
would divorce her. Then they would finally be together. While
Renée thought about this proposal, David began to notice her
growing closeness to her "brother." In response to David's growing
jealousy, Renée began wanting to start a family.
Unfortunately, David was completely against the idea of having a
baby. Not long after this, Stefano disappeared, kidnapping Liz and
Marlena. It was then revealed to the family that Stefano was the head
of an international crime organization and responsible for various
deaths in Salem. At this time, Tony chose to announce his true
parentage. As a result of this revelation, David began to keep a
closer eye on Renée and Tony. In the end, Renée vowed
to stay with David when she discovered that she was
pregnant.
In early March, Stefano was finally arrested for his crimes. Renée, who had grown to love Stefano, couldn't believe that the man who offered her so much love would capable of such evil. While Stefano awaited his trial, Renée went to visit him in jail. Separated by a window, a remorseful Stefano begged Renée to forgive him and expressed how content he was that at least she had David. As they talked, he suffered a stroke. He died hours later in the hospital. His death affected Renée so much that the only who could calm her down was Tony. Tony continued to try to talk Renée into leaving David, but Renée spurned his advances for the sake of her family, and to fulfill Stefano's last wishes.
Stefano's
last wishes, however, proved to be more complicated. In his will,
Stefano left his vast fortune to both Renée and Tony. But to
collect on that fortune, both of them had to live together in the
mansion as siblings for one year. Also, the first one to be blessed
with a male heir would inherit an additional $5 million. David
thought that the will was ridiculous and immediately wanted to move
out of the mansion. Tony wasn't thrilled with the arrangement either.
However, Renée talked David into staying with the promise that
the money they'd inherit would go to his business investments.
Meanwhile, one of the DiMera employees, Anna Brady, began to get
awfully friendly with Tony. Renée was severely overcome with
jealousy and quickly developed an animosity toward Anna. Also at this
time, Daphne
DiMera befriended
Renée, knowing that her son was in love with her. Daphne used
every possible moment to convince Renée that she and Tony were
destined to be together. Before long, Daphne's words began to take
effect and Renée started to long for Tony. But by the time she
was ready to admit this to Tony it was too late. On a business trip
to Las Vegas, Tony wound up getting married to Anna.
Renée was convinced that Anna had tricked Tony into marriage in order to collect Stefano's inheritance and let her know her suspicions. Renée was right, but Anna sweetly denied her accusations. Meanwhile, Renée's jealous reaction to Anna and Tony's marriage convinced David that she wanted to be with Tony. Fed up with this entire nonsense, David threatened to divorce Renée. After one particularly heated argument, Renée went horseback riding to unwind. The horse she picked, which had been a gift from Tony, wasn't broken in yet and therefore dangerous. Despite the stableboy's warning, Renée went riding. The horse proved to be too wild and Renée fell from it while riding near the lake. The fall caused Renée to lose her baby. Although her miscarriage brought her and David closer, she soon insisted on creating another child to collect Stefano's money. It then became clear to him that all Renée cared about was the money and not how he felt, so he filed for divorce. Renée was desperate to hang on to David and tried to stall the divorce. With Gwen Davies' help, she found a loophole in Stefano's will: she and David had to be married, but he didn't have to live in the mansion with her and Tony! To stall the divorce process, Renée managed to seduce David, knowing that if they had sex the divorce process would have to start from the beginning. Thanks to Anna, David discovered this and he left the mansion once and for all. Furious at Anna for ruining her plans with David, Renée attacked her, only to be pulled off by Tony. Seeing money as Renée's motivation for staying with David, Tony was disgusted by Renée and turned his back to her.
Meanwhile, Anna became pregnant. Although Daphne and Renée believed that she was faking at first, the pregnancy turned out to be real. Despite this, Daphne continued to encourage Renée to do everything in her power to win Tony back. It then occurred to Renée to sabotage Tony and Anna's relationship. One day, they were going to go boating on the lake. Renée rigged the boat so that it would sink. Unfortunately, the accident caused Anna to miscarry. Renée was horrified at the result of her prank, but kept silent for fear of losing her chances to get back together with Tony. In the meantime, Tony decided to divorce Anna after he discovered that she'd drugged him in order to marry him. This seemed like Renée's chance to get back in Tony's good graces. However, Anna had the boating accident investigated, and evidence turned up suggesting that Renée had set it up. When Tony found out, he rejected Renée once and for all. He also ordered her to move out of the mansion. Although Daphne desperately insisted that she stay, Renée felt that there was no hope for a reconciliation with Tony.
Renée was alone and penniless. By now, most everyone she knew had turned their backs to her. But out of nowhere, Alex Marshall took her under his wing. He gave her a suite at the Salem Inn and comforted her. Renée was confused by his sudden attention but didn't give it much thought since he was the only person she had left. A week later, Renée finally received her divorce papers and signed them. Now a free woman, Alex charmed her off of her feet and asked her to marry him. In the short time they'd spent together, Alex had proven to be caring and sensitive with her. With no hope of getting a better offer, Renée innocently accepted his proposal. They were hurriedly married by a Justice of the Peace but they didn't announce it to anyone. Days after the wedding, however, Renée went into Alex's office to look for some papers. In his desk, she found what appeared to be a handwritten will from none other than Stefano. In this will, written shortly before his death, Stefano left everything to Renée! Now understanding why Alex had married her, Renée vowed revenge. Keeping the will's existence a secret, Renée moved back into the mansion and began organizing an extravagant engagement party for her and Alex. Daphne was happy to have her back and immediately began trying to get Renée back together with Tony. Daphne's unusual insistence made Renée suspect that she, too, knew about the will. On the day of the engagement party, Renée confronted Daphne with it. She knew that Renée was the sole heir to Stefano's fortune. She'd known all along. Believing that this was the only reason Daphne had ever befriended her and supported her, Renée turned on her.
That
evening, the elegant party was held on the grounds, with much of
Salem present. Once everyone arrived, Renée made her grand
entrance. She then announced the reason for the party. It wasn't an
engagement party because she and Alex, to everyone's amazement, were
already married; it was to announce Stefano's last will and
testament. Renée made a speech detailing the duplicitous
nature of the people who had surrounded her. One by one, she picked
those people apart with harsh words in what would be a speech to
remember. She related to everyone how Alex had tricked her into
marriage knowing that she would inherit everything, but she also
assured Alex that their marriage would be annulled right away. She
then turned her attention to Daphne, the friend who had presumably
betrayed for the same reason as Alex: her money. And then came Tony,
the only man she ever loved who ultimately rejected her. And then
Julie Williams, David's mother; since David was not present at the
party, she directed the anger she held against him toward Julie,
claiming that their marriage had failed because he put work over
their relationship. And finally, Anna, the woman responsible for her
ultimate rejection by Tony. Recalling over all of these events caused
Renée to finally end her speech and run upstairs in tears. One
by one, each of the people targeted by Renée went upstairs,
the last of them being Tony. Moved by her words to him, Tony decided
that he wanted her back. They made love in her bedroom and decided to
get married. Tony then returned the party. Moments later, Delia, the
maid, screamed that there had been a murder. Upstairs in her bedroom,
Renée's lifeless body lied on the floor. She had a knife stuck
in her back and a raven's feather in her hand.
Following months of investigation, it
was discovered that Renée had been murdered by
André
DiMera, Stefano's nephew.
André, who'd had plastic surgery that made him look exactly
like Tony, had kidnapped Tony that night after he and Renée
had made love. When André returned pretending to be Tony,
Renée had instantly realized that he was not Tony. To protect
his identity, André killed her.
The character of Renée DuMonde
was played by Philece Sampler from 1981-1984.