Tony
DiMera is the biological son of Daphne
DiMera and a man named
Enrico, but he grew up believing that he was the son of
Stefano
DiMera. As such, he is the
adoptive brother of Peter
and Kristen
Blake. He is the cousin of
André
DiMera, and the ex-husband of
Liz Chandler, Anna Fredericks, and Kristen Blake.
Born in Australia, Tony DiMera was raised solely by his mother, who did everything possible to keep him away from his father, Stefano. But upon reaching adulthood, Tony was contacted by Stefano and subsequently went to Europe to work for him in the family business. He eventually entered into a brief and turbulent with Liz Chandler. In October 1981, Tony suddenly appeared in Salem and informed Liz that they were still married; Tony had paid off Liz's lawyer to never process their divorce papers. This presented a serious problem for Liz because she had already married another man, Don Craig. Tony and his father were interested in moving their family business to Salem. In order to achieve a good standing in the community, he needed a wife and told Liz that they would resume their married life. Liz refused at first, but Tony was willing to destroy Don's political career by making public the news of his illegal marriage to Liz. To keep Don from being hurt, Liz obeyed Tony's demands. But while Tony forced Liz to live as his wife, he took a serious interest in Trish Banning, a singer at Doug's Place. He began to spend a lot of time with Trish to get in her good graces. When Trish took on a bartending job at a seedy bar called The Twilight, Tony purchased the bar and put Trish in charge of it.
Meanwhile, Tony got in touch with Stuart Whyland, a businessman who was also under his employ. He had arrived in Salem earlier in the year with the mission of investigating various members of the community and establishing himself in Salem society. Among Tony's orders for Stuart were: becoming hospital administrator, getting ownership of Doug's Place, getting ownership of Anderson Manufacturing. Stuart only achieved the first; unfortunately, he used his position as hospital administrator to embezzle hospital funds. Stuart then tried to kill Alex Marshall to cover up his crime. When Tony discovered Stuart's betrayal, he had him taken to Rome to face his father. Then, he blackmailed Alex Marshall into telling the police about Stuart's crimes. Tony made Alex his new right hand (not that Alex had much choice in the matter), replacing Stuart, and ordered him to get ownership of Anderson Manufacturing. Since Alex had been married to its owner, Mary Anderson, Tony assumed that Alex could just seduce her into selling the plant. However, Alex refused because it would bring about the end to his relationship with Marie Horton. Once again, Tony threatened Alex; that was just the motivation Alex needed and he quickly got to work on Mary. Tony also went about taking over Stuart's possessions including his mansion, which had been bought with DiMera money. Meanwhile, Tony also contacted Lee DuMonde, a former lover of Stefano's. She was to prepare for Stefano's arrival and allow him to stay in her penthouse. Lee didn't want to be involved with the DiMeras again but Tony warned her to do as he said. As he interacted with Lee, Tony met her younger sister Renée and instantly liked the girl. After Renée was attacked by a serial killer named The Salem Strangler, Tony offered to pay for her hospital bills and vowed to protect her. Though Lee was touched by Tony's surprising benevolence, she was visibly troubled by his interest in Renée.
Although Tony's methods seemed harsh, he was actually trying to "clean up" the family business. In Europe, DiMera Enterprises was behind hostile takeovers, drug operations, and organized crime; Tony wanted to start anew in the United States and run a legitimate business. This had been his only reason for leaving his mother in Australia and agreeing to work for Stefano. Unfortunately, the cleanup was more difficult than he thought. Tony noticed that Stuart was still giving orders to Alex and other henchmen from Rome, so he decided to go there personally and settle matters once and for all. Not surprisingly, Stefano took Tony's side of the argument and ordered Stuart to return to Salem and confess to his crimes. However, Stuart only agreed when Stefano threatened to kill Stuart's son Evan, which really irritated Tony since he didn't want to continue killing innocent people and running illegal operations. Nevertheless, Tony continued to work with his father and returned to Salem with him. Since Tony had told everyone that Stefano was responsible for getting Stuart to confess, Stefano was welcomed by the citizens of Salem with open arms.
By
this time, Renée had recovered from her attack and was being
released from the hospital. Since she was still in danger of being
attacked by the Strangler, Tony told Lee that Renée would stay
in the DiMera mansion, where she was could be well-protected, until
the Strangler was caught. Tony continued to be entranced by
Renée and showered her with every luxury imaginable. Fresh
white roses every morning and a new wardrobe were among the many
gifts that Tony gave her. Though Renée was flattered by Tony's
attention, she was involved with David Banning. Tony thought that the
relationship would fizzle since David was also entangled with his
ex-wife, Trish (whom Tony no longer found romantically interesting.)
But one stormy evening, Tony painfully saw that David and
Renée's relationship was more serious than he had imagined.
While Tony waited for Renée in a dark corner of the living
room, she and David entered from the rain and sat in front of the
fire unaware of Tony's presence. There, David and Renée shared
a passionate kiss and discussed their feelings for each other. Tony
realized that winning Renée would not be easy, but he was not
giving up. Meanwhile, Liz began making romantic advances toward Tony.
At first, Tony enjoyed Liz's attention and was reminded of the brief
time when they'd been happy together. But soon Tony realized that
Stefano was pressuring Liz to play the loving wife. Taking pity on
her, Tony told her to stop the advances because he knew she didn't
love him; but he would go along with the charade to protect her from
Stefano.
At
Trish's suggestion, Tony decided to close down The Twilight and turn
it into a much more appealing establishment. Following her advice,
The Twilight Bar was to become a bar/restaurant featuring live
entertainment. Its new name was Shenanigans. While preparing for the
opening of Shenanigans, Tony stumbled upon a way to put a wedge
between David and Renée. Since David was good at bookkeeping,
Tony made him his bookkeeper at Shenanigans, which meant that he'd
have to work closely with Trish. Meanwhile, Shenanigans opened
successfully with a spectacular costume party. Tony invited
Renée to the event and gave her an amazing pink princess
costume to wear, while he wore a black bandit disguise. Equally
amazing was the murder of Mary Anderson that same evening at the
hands of The Salem Strangler. With the Strangler still on the loose,
Tony became even more protective of Renée, asking her to stay
indoors almost all of the time. Over time, Renée began develop
feelings for Tony, but they continued to have a "brother/sister"
relationship. She also continued to date David Banning. One stormy
night (another one), the Strangler somehow entered the house and
attempted to kill Renée again. She survived, but the attack
angered Tony enough to vow never to leave Renée's side until
the killer was caught. And with that pledge, Tony and Renée
hastily took off in his car and left Salem.
After driving for hours, Tony and Renée checked into the Greenbriar Inn and got a room posing as husband and wife. Since Tony had driven and was tired, he immediately took a nap. While resting, Tony talked in his sleep and expressed his attraction for Renée, which she found amusing and very interesting. Tony and Renée continued to stay in the motel but soon realized that they had left so quickly that they'd forgotten to bring any money. Desperate, Tony contacted Liz and convinced her to bring them some cash by promising to give her a divorce when they returned to Salem. However, the police followed Liz to the hotel and staked it out suspecting that she was meeting Tony. When Renée realized that they were trapped, she got so worried that Tony comforted her and unconsciously kissed her, letting her know that his feelings for her ran deep. Not having time to think about what had happened, Tony and Renée managed to sneak out of the hotel by wearing disguises and stole a car. Little did they know that they had narrowly escaped the Salem Strangler, for Jake Kositchek, the Strangler, had been at the Greenbriar Inn stalking Renée. Tony and Reneé later met Liz, who had rented them a camper and returned the stolen car to the hotel. Eventually, Liz arranged for them to stay in a vacant mountain cabin. They believed they were safe there until a peculiar old mountain woman named Joretta Hicksby arrived and held them at gunpoint. Explaining that they were honeymooners, Tony and Renée won Joretta's trust. Unbeknownst to them, Joretta was actually an undercover police officer codenamed "Sweetheart"; she was in constant touch with Captain Roman Brady to update him on their whereabouts. Meanwhile, Tony and Renée continued to make their feelings for each other known. Renée finally confessed to Tony that she loved him and asked him to marry her. Tony was thrilled at this but turned down her marriage proposal so that he could propose to her. When he did, she accepted and they became engaged. Though Renée wanted to make love to Tony, he insisted that they wait until they married. Soon after this, Roman Brady and Dr. Marlena Evans arrived at the cabin and rained on their parade.
Roman
and Marlena arrived to tell Renée that Lee had left Salem and
that she'd left a letter for Renée. Marlena knew the contents
of the letter and asked everyone to leave Renée alone to read
it. Moments later, Tony heard Renée crying and returned to the
cabin. In tears, Renée begged Tony to stay away from her,
claiming that they'd been wrong to try to love each other. Tony was
perplexed at her sudden change of heart and knew that Lee's letter
had something do with it. However, Renée refused to give him
any explanation; Marlena also refused, saying that only Renée
had the right to divulge the contents of the letter. Despite Tony's
pleas, Renée wouldn't tell him anything. He watched helplessly
as she turned to David for comfort, moving out of the DiMera mansion
and into the Horton home. Tony and Stefano decided to find Lee at any
cost in order to know what lies she'd told Renée. After
several months, they closed in on her. But just as they were about to
find her, Tony became to desperate that he snatched the letter from
Renée and read it himself. In it, Lee claimed that she was
actually Renée's mother, and that Stefano was her father! Tony
became furious at the letter and told Renée they were lies.
But she said they weren't, and showed Lee's journal, in which she
detailed her relationship with Stefano, and a locket Lee had left
behind that contained a baby picture of Renée and a picture of
Stefano. When Tony told Stefano, he also claimed that it was all a
lie. Unfortunately, blood tests proved that Renée was indeed
Stefano's daughter. From now on, Tony could be nothing more than a
brother to her. Meanwhile, Tony was so angry at everything that was
happening that he broke his promise to Liz and refused to divorce
her.
Stefano
demanded that Tony and Renée live together as siblings and had
her move back into mansion. Unfortunately, the constant tension
between them made this almost impossible. One night, after a party
that announced Renée as a DiMera, Stefano suffered a heart
attack. It was only after this that Tony and Renée promised to
do everything possible to live together as siblings. Little did they
know that Stefano had faked the attack. Later on, Stefano asked Tony
to encourage Renée to begin dating other men. However, this
proved to be very difficult because he constantly became jealous of
the men she saw, such as Chris Kositchek and David Banning. Despite
this, he forced himself to push Renée away because that was
his father's wish. To make this task easier for him, Tony decided to
follow through on his original plans of establishing a family by
having a child with Liz. Liz, who had moved out of the mansion,
refused to return to Tony. Tony knew that Liz was having an affair
with Neil Curtis. While he couldn't care less who Liz saw, he was
determined to have her fulfill the role of the doting wife and
mother. During this time, Neil was coincidentally injured in an
explosion. Liz immediately returned to Tony and blamed Stefano for
the attempt on Neil's life. Nevertheless, Tony kept her in his home.
One evening, Tony locked Liz in her bedroom and forced her to have
sex with him. The following morning, when Renée saw Tony in
Liz's bedroom and the scratch marks on Liz, she realized that they
had slept together and ran away in tears. Later, Tony harshly told
Renée that he was married to Liz and that she would have to
forget about him. Immediately after this, Renée resumed her
relationship with David.
About a month later, Liz began to act very strangely. Tony suspected that she was pregnant, so he broke into her doctor's files to confirm this. The fact that Liz hadn't told anyone that she was pregnant led Tony to believe that she was up to something. When he confronted her with his knowledge of the baby, he warned her to stop seeing Neil and to remain in the mansion until she gave birth. Meanwhile, Tony's jealousy over David and Renée's escalating relationship became more than obvious, especially after they announced that they were engaged. During this time, Tony's mother Daphne came to Salem to see her son. A disturbed woman, Daphne warned Tony to leave Salem where all he'd found was unhappiness. Tony seriously considered this. As he drowned his sorrows in alcohol one night, Tony spotted Renée in her nightgown. Drunk, he kissed his half-sister and pounced on her determined to make love to her. Fortunately, Tony came to his senses when Renée finally managed to slap him. After this episode, Tony realized that he'd never be able to forget about Renée as long as he lived in the same town as her.
As
Renée and David's wedding approached, Tony became more
determined to leave. Meanwhile, Daphne's mental state deteriorated to
the point that Tony took her to the hospital for observation. On the
morning of the wedding, Tony confessed his problems with Renée
to his mother. Wanting to help her son, Daphne made a confession of
her own: he was NOT Stefano's son! Daphne had once had an affair with
a Greek servant named Enrico, whom Stefano then had killed. Enrico
was Tony's biological father. Therefore, Tony was perfectly free to
pursue Renée! Flabbergasted, Tony checked with
Dr. Sandy
Horton to see if it was
possible that he wasn't Stefano's son. According to the information
Sandy gave him regarding blood types, Stefano couldn't possibly be
his father. With this new information, Tony rushed out of the
hospital determined to stop David and Renée's wedding.
Unfortunately, Tony didn't know at which church the ceremony was
being held. Losing precious time, Tony ran throughout Salem trying to
find the wedding. When he finally arrived at the right church, he was
so disheveled and badly-dressed that the guards stopped him from
going in. By the time he finally freed himself from the guards, the
wedding was over. Renée was now Mrs. David Banning and Tony
could do nothing about it.
Or
was there? Tony didn't give up on Renée because he knew that
she still loved him. Before she left on her honeymoon, Tony told her
what he'd found out, effectively putting a damper on her new marriage
to David. Nevertheless, Renée tried to make her marriage work
and forget about Tony. Luckily for Tony, David travelled often,
allowing Tony to continously harass Renée. As Tony persisted,
Reneée finally admitted that she still loved him. Their
feelings became very difficult to hide in public, and more than once
they were almost caught together. In the end, Renée wound up
being torn apart between her love of Tony and her duty to make her
marriage to David work. Shortly after Christmas, Tony's constant
chasing of Renée finally took a toll on her. In a hysteric
fit, she took a nasty fall down the stairs at the mansion. Following
this event, Tony tried to keep his insistence to a minimum, for
Renée's sake. But after recuperating from the fall,
Renée finally made a choice.
More information to
follow!
The character of Tony DiMera was
played by Thaao Penghlis from 1981-1985; 1993-1995; 1996;
2002-present
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