André DiMera

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

André DiMera is a fictional character on the soap opera Days of our Lives. He was played by Thaao Penghlis from 1983-1984, 1993 to 1995, 2002 to 2005 and 2007. He was also portrayed by Wayne Northrop in 1983. On July 17, 2007, it was revealed that André has been impersonating his cousin, Tony DiMera, for over 20 years.

[edit] Fictional character history

André DiMera was brought to Salem in 1983 by Stefano DiMera. André was given plastic surgery to look exactly like Tony DiMera, and with Stefano the two planned to frame Roman Brady for murder. In 1983 André was going to kill Marie Horton and began the set-up to frame Tony as a serial killer the evening Stefano's daughter Renée DuMonde triumphantly declared to all of Salem that she was the sole inheritor of the DiMera fortune; but when Renee realized Andre was not the Tony she knew and loved (Tony and Renee had fallen in love without originally knowing Renee was a DiMera) Andre panicked and murdered her instead of Marie Horton. Stefano swore to kill Andre for this deed once he had "used" him and for that reason Andre fears Stefano. Andre then killed an RN named Kelly Chase, who had helped Stefano to fake his death and Trista Evans Bradford, the sweet young nurse and cousin of Marlena, on her wedding night because Stefano feared discrepancies Trista uncovered the night Stefano faked his death could lead to the police catching him. Andre's fourth victim was Leticia Bradford, Eugene's kooky cousin in a cameo by comedienne Ruth Buzzi. Finally, with a mask donned as Roman, Andre murdered prostitute Daisy Hawkins in front of Marlena Evans Brady and Sandy Horton. Roman was jailed as a result. André eventually chained Tony up in his penthouse apartment and took Tony's place. One day when Anna was snooping around for Alex Marshall she came upon Tony, and André imprisoned her with him. Later Roman managed to free Tony and Anna, and after a duel with Tony, André managed to slip out of Salem. André returned to Stefano's island compound were the two planned on acquiring three prisms designed by Larry Welch's father. Stefano wanted these prisms to heal an inoperable brain tumor he had. One prism was in the belly of an alligator, another in a necklace owned by Daphne DiMera which fell into Calliope Jones' hands, and the third in Russia.

André and Stefano planned to get everyone to Stefano's secret compound for revenge. In 1984 Anna and Alex Marshall opened up a fashion company. Alex, Anna, and Tony picked Haiti for a photo shot. On board the plane flying to Haiti was Eugene Bradford, Calliope Jones, Bo Brady, Hope Williams, Anna DiMera, Liz Chandler, Carlo, Daphne DiMera, André DiMera, and Tony DiMera. On the way to Haiti André surprisingly popped up, and when he threatened the pilot to change his course the pilot died of a heart attack, and the plane crashed on a remote island. As a result of the plane crash Daphne died in André's arms. When Tony learned about this, the two fought, and André met his demise in a patch of quicksand. Tony gave the necklace with the prism to an island girl, but Stefano managed to get the prism back. Roman Brady showed up, and fought with Stefano atop a nearby cliff, as Bo watched from below. Roman eventually fell, and died on the beach in Bo's arms. When Bo left Roman to get help, Roman's body was gone when he returned. Eventually the Coast Guard arrived, and everyone was rescued.

André posing as Tony DiMera returned to Salem in 1993 to marry his fiancee, Kristen Blake (at the time, not even the audience knew it was really André.) André and Kristen had fallen in love before they arrived in Salem. Kristen, however, believed André to be Tony DiMera. Stefano told Kristen that before he died, he wanted to see them marry. Kristen agreed to marry André, even though she loved John Black. However, Kristen left André at the altar to help John Black find Marlena and Roman's daughter, Belle.

Billie Reed decided to turn her life around and started her own cosmetics company called Countess Willamina. To fund her company, Billie convinced Alice and Maggie Horton to become investors. Unfortunately, Kate Roberts bought out Countess Willamina to spite Billie for posing as the author of Jack's manuscript. Later that year, Billie befriended André DiMera. André bought up 49% of Titan Industries and then brought Billie into Titan to run the Countess Wilhemina division.

André and Kristen were about to marry when John Black showed up at the wedding, claiming that he had evidence linking Stefano to Curtis Reed's murder. When Stefano hopped in a car and drive off, John shot at the tires. Stefano had planned it so his car would go off the road and he would be "killed" in the crash. Kristen, blaming John for her father's death, married André on February 18, 1994. André learned later that Stefano was alive, but he kept it a secret because he feared Kristen would leave him.

In late 1994, Kristen, André, Peter, Jen, Bo, and Billie all came to Maison Blanche for a charity event Kristen held. While there, Jen and Peter made love. Also, Billie saw a woman who looked like Bo's dead wife Hope, but nobody would believe her. Hope was at Maison Blanche, but she was called Gina by Stefano and Celeste. Roman also showed up, but to arrest Peter Blake for trafficking drugs in one of his clubs. A jealous Celeste leaked gas into the cell where John and Marlena were being held and started a fire. Roman managed to rescue them. John came out and shocked both Kristen and André, who were horrified to see John in shackles. Kristen looked up and screamed when she spotted her dead father, Stefano. André ran back into the house to try and retrieve his uncle's computer, which contained a file on John's past. Maison Blanche burst into flames. André got the computer, but went blind in the process.

Kristen Blake began sleeping with John. Later Kristen learned that her husband, André, knew that Stefano was alive all along and he had switched Kristen's birth control pills with sugar pills. Kristen left him and began living with John Black in his loft. Kristen also managed to crack the notebook computer from Maison Blanche and was horrified to learn that John was a priest. Kristen told John the truth, but he refused to believe it. John and Kristen traveled to a parish where John served and his mentor, Father Francis, recognized him as Father Black. He was also recognized by a woman from the parish. John had put his handprints in a wall near the parish and he was shocked when they matched. John was forced to accept that he was a priest. Though he wanted to be released from his vows, a friend told John to live as a priest for a while in order to see what he was giving up. Kristen returned to André, who had bought a gun and was planning on killing John. When Kristen told André that John was a priest, André backed off from killing him. Later that year André regained his sight, but he continued to lie in hopes of catching Kristen and John together.

When John Black was released from his vows as a priest, Kristen left André to be with John. André soon learned that he had a rare and fatal blood disease that would end his life very soon. André formulated a plan in which he would frame John for his own murder. André wrote his entire plan down in his diary and he also confessed it to Father Francis. When André learned that Father Francis was going to tell John Black the truth, André confronted Father Francis. André took Father Francis' blood pressure pills and agitated him into a heart attack. Later, André cut off Father Francis' oxygen at the hospital and caused him to lapse into a coma.

André went to Aremid for Peter Blake and Jennifer Deveraux's wedding and he set a trap at the Blake House for John. At the wedding reception, André worked John into a frenzy and got him to shout out that he would kill him. André then went up to his room and lured John up there by placing a phone call to John. André disguised his voice and told John that André was the one who attempted to kill Father Francis. Up in his room, André and John fought. John eventually left through another door, which André had sprinkled gunpowder on. André then began begging John not to shoot him as various Salemites listened in. André then activated a device which cause his gun to shoot at him and then fall to the floor. When the Salemites had finally gotten into the room, André was mortally wounded. André died, but one thing ruined his plan: the Woman in White got ahold of his diary.

It was seven years before the citizens of Salem learned that André was not dead, and had in fact been alive all this time...he made his grand re-entrance at John and Marlena's anniversary party. André said the man who died in Aremid was not Tony, but his presumed dead lookalike André. He still suffers from a rare blood disease, and now a new-found obsession with Marlena. He might have something new to keep his mind occupied though...he found out that twins Rex and Cassie are his children with Marlena. He had another shock coming shortly after that though...John Black was really his half-brother, from his mother Daphne's side. Since John still believes André capable of anything, they haven't been able to become friends. André as Tony was devastated to eventually learn that Rex and Cassie were not his children after all, and was furious with Stefano, knowing that his uncle did it on purpose.

André was the number one suspect for the "Salem Stalker" murders of 2003/2004 until Mickey Horton agreed to defend him, and got him out on bail. The night of the Horton Circus, André took center stage, promising to reveal the killer. While dragging out the moment for dramatic purposes, André had a bucket of blood dumped on him, and was attacked by Horton the tiger. He was in the hospital, recovering from his wounds, when the Salem Stalker came in to administer a fatal dose of drugs. André's last words to his killer clarified his knowledge of who the Salem Stalker was, as André looked up into Marlena Evans' eyes. André died while trying desperately to communicate the truth to the others.

Months later, it was discovered that André was one of the many Salem residents now living on the island of Melaswen. He had hidden himself for quite some time, and when he made himself known, the other residents didn't trust him. After sabotaging every attempt the islanders made to get to freedom, André was finally revealed as the mastermind behind the whole shebang, a plot he cooked up to get back at everyone he felt had wronged him. It turns out he had never forgotten about his previous wife, Kristen, who left him for John Black years earlier. He again faked his death, making certain the island residents believed he was deceased, but when not all of the Salem residents made it home, André revealed himself as their captor.

All the captives eventually escaped, but André wasn't finished wreaking havoc on the citizens of Salem. Using an intermediary, he enlisted Sami Brady into a scheme to punish all of those who had done her wrong, while satisfying his own need for revenge. Sami eventually turned on him after he took Lucas, Brady, Philip, Shawn and Rex hostage, but because she was involved for months, he held it over her head, and used the information she got him to try to break out of jail. Unfortunately, he was ultimately unsuccessful. ^{[1] [2]}

Eventually André found a "compassionate judge" who got him out of jail after reviewing his case and he went back to Salem to help his ailing "father", Stefano. Stefano needs stem cells from Samantha Roberts' child to cure him. André attempted to get them but, thanks to his cousin Elvis, was unable to do so. André was furious and began ordering hits on Sami. Unfortunatately for him none have panned out, again thanks to Elvis. André told Elvis he was no longer Stefano's favorite son and was "the rotten limb on the family tree." During this time Elvis and Sami quasi-kidnapped Stefano and attempted to end the feud between the Bradys and DiMeras inside an ambulance. A groggy Stefano called Sami "Colleen." This has sparked an investigation about the feud's beginnings. While searching for clues Bo and Hope found the presumed dead Lexie Carver inside a tunnel leading to the DiMera Mansion from Doug's place. They also discovered a bomb in a musicbox which exploded but did not kill anyone. When questioned about this Stefano claimed neither he nor his family was involved. Privately Stefano accused André of doing things behind his back and asked if he was "insane" for imprisoning his own "sister". André claimed his actions were for the good of the family. Stefano told André to get his act together but André argued with Stefano about the feud with the Bradys, claiming that because of Stefano and his vendetta, André, as Tony, no longer had the friends and respect in Salem that he used to have. André then informed his uncle, "You created the Bradys as our enemies and if you don't finish them, I will." In response Stefano called a family meeting of the DiMera Family, where André continued to argue with his uncle and berate Elvis. Stefano told André if he didn't want to be a part of the family he could pack his bags and leave, and accused him of "trying on the crown before the king was dead". Celeste told Stefano that "Tony's" behavior was his own fault for spoiling him from birth, to which Stefano retorted "What I have made I can unmake!"

The people of Salem recently discovered that the mentally unstable person everyone believed to be Tony was in fact André, and Bo Brady confronted him and demanded to know where the real Tony was being imprisoned. André told him the answer was on Bart's back, before sustaining severe injuries from falling off the roof of a building. He was admitted to the hospital, where he faked his injuries, and later escaped.

After being caught by the Brady family and wounded from another fall from the roof of a television station, Andre took his own life at the hospital while Shawn Brady watched. While Shawn was ready to turn off Andre's life support, Colleen appeared to him to tell him he was not a murderer. Though he took his sister's words to heart, the elderly Brady made a move to turn it off, but couldn't. When it became obvious to Andre Shawn was going to murder him, he turned his life support off himself, killing him, hoping to frame Shawn for the crime.

[edit] External links

• Soapcentral bio

[edit] References