Tony
Merritt is the only son of Craig Merritt. His mother died when he was
12 and was raised mainly by his father. In 1964, Tony met Marie
Horton while studying at Salem University. Her engagement to the
well-known Rick Butler had just ended and Marie was trying to shut
the world out. But Tony befriended Marie and brought her out of her
depression. As he did that, they fell in love. By November 8, 1965,
the two were preparing for a Thanksgiving wedding, afterwhich they
would leave Salem to finish their studies at Oxford University in
Boston. Tony was trying to get a teaching fellowship there
specializing in aerodynamics and soon left for Boston to go to his
interviews. During this time, Tony began to suffer headaches and
dizzy spells, but hid them from Marie thinking that it was
nothing.
Once
in Boston, the dizzy spells continued and grew much worse. At Jim's
urgency, Tony reluctantly went to see a doctor. Dr. Croner
immediately saw that Tony was not as healthy as he claimed to be and
suggested the possibility of a blood disease, such as mononucleosisor
anemia. Croner referred Tony to a hematologist named Dr. Donald
White. After analyzing Tony's blood, Dr. White diagnosed Tony with a
rare illness called Osler Vaskin's Disease. This was a blood disorder
that had the reverse effects of anemia, in which the blood becomes
enriched with its elements. Although it usually struck elderly men,
it sometimes appeared in young men. Though the disease was incurable
and fatal in most cases, there were treatments for it. This, however,
meant nothing to Tony. As far as he was concerned, he'd just been
given a death sentence. After getting drunk at a bar in Boston, Tony
decided that he couldn't go through with the wedding to Marie; he
didn't want her to have to watch him die. Jim tried to change Tony's
mind but he wouldn't listen. Instead, Tony made Jim promise to keep
his illness a secret.
Tony returned to Salem and immediately told his father that he was thinking about calling off the wedding. Craig and Tony had a serious argument about the subject, but Tony never mentioned why he wanted to call of the wedding. The following evening was Tony and Marie's pre-wedding dinner. Just before leaving for dinner, Tony told Marie that he couldn't marry her -- that he wasn't ready to make that sort of commitment. Though Marie pleaded and argued with him, Tony simply told her that he didn't love her and asked her to move on with his life. Thinking that he'd done the best thing for Marie, he left and returned to Boston. Unbeknownst to Tony, his actions caused Marie to plummet into the same dark depression she'd been in when he'd met her, and driven her to attempt to suicide.
Once back in Boston, Tony moved in with Jim and began undergoing treatment for his disease. In the meantime, he met a delightful woman at a cafe. He and the woman, Lillian "Lil" Miller, struck up a quick friendship. Lil brought Tony some fun that he needed. After all, what he'd done to Marie hadn't been very easy for him either. He and Lil began dating, but Tony couldn't forget Marie. Meanwhile, Craig didn't tell Tony what had happened to Marie. As time went by, Tony began showing signs of improvement. In early 1966, he discovered what had happened to Marie and tried to rush to Salem to tell her the truth. However, he never made it; the excitement caused him to have a stroke. All the while he recuperated, Lil took care of him.
Tony and Lil began dating, but he still couldn't forget Marie and she knew it. Lil began to get jealous, and even tried to look like Marie in order to win Tony's heart, but it didn't work. Meanwhile, Tony began to fall ill once again and was hospitalized. After making some progress, Dr. White advised him to return to Salem. There was obviously something missing from his life that was in Salem, and he encouraged Tony to pursue it. At this time, Jim announced that he had gotten a job in Salem and tried to convince Tony to return with him. However, Tony had just received news that his father and Marie were getting married and really had no wishes to see their wedding. But after much thought, Tony agreed. But as he was getting ready to go, Tony received a shocking visit from his father. Dr. White had finally informed Craig that Tony had a debilitating blood disease. Craig begged to know if the disease had been the reason Tony had left Marie. Wanting to spare his father's feelings, Tony claimed that he didn't love Marie. He soon returned to Salem.
Once
back in Salem, Tony decided to move on with his life when he saw that
Marie was happily married to Craig and pregnant with his child. After
getting a job at the hospital, Tony met the beautiful Dr. Laura
Spencer and decided to pursue her. As luck would have it, Laura just
happened to live in the same apartment building as he and Jim. Heavy
flirting and dates followed, and it looked as though Tony and Laura
would become an item.
Tony
and Laura dated seriously for a few months, but Tony couldn't forget
Marie or keep from worrying about her after she miscarried the baby.
Tony comforted Marie after the miscarriage and the two grew close
once again. Needless to say, Tony and Laura split up during this
time. Also at this time, Tony finally told Marie why he'd run out on
her. The truth only brought them closer together, and distanced Craig
from Marie.
Not
long after this, Craig and Marie divorced. After the miscarriage,
there was nothing to hold their marriage together, and the knowledge
of Tony's original reason for leaving Marie changed both Craig and
Marie's perspective on the matter. Craig chose to bow out in order to
give his son some happiness, and Marie wanted to return things to the
way they were. Meanwhile, Tony's health improved to the point where
he made a complete recovery. However, this time around things were
different. Marie and Tony had both grown up in their year apart and
no longer shared the feelings they'd once had. This time, the
relationship simply didn't work out because they'd grown away from
each other. In early 1967, Tony and Marie finally broke up for good,
and Tony left Salem.
The character of Tony Merritt was
played by the following:
Richard Colla (1965-1966)
Don Briscoe (1966)
Ron Husmann (1966-1967)