Tony has survived Salem’s worst on Days of our Lives, but the crypt ordeal still lingers. Being locked in the family tomb with his siblings wasn’t just another kidnapping; it was claustrophobic, personal, and steeped in everything the DiMeras do best: turning family into a cage. They made it out, but stories like that don’t end when the doors open. They follow you. And in a new interview, Thaao Penghlis revealed the one storyline he still thinks about and what made it stick.
Key Takeaways
- Penghlis said stepping into the Andre the Clown disguise felt liberating.
- The heavy makeup and transformation helped him detach from himself.
- Not recognizing his reflection gave him creative freedom.
- The physical disguise unlocked a looser, bolder performance.
- He still associates that storyline with artistic release.
The One Story That Never Let Go
Penghlis spoke with the Pop Culture Retro show and, when asked what he would revisit from his long run on DAYS, he did not hesitate. “Probably Andre the clown,” he said, naming a storyline that did not even center on Tony, but on Tony’s darker mirror.
For Penghlis, it was not nostalgia for chaos. It was the craft of it. “I loved upsetting people,” he admitted, and he framed that villain joy as something purposeful rather than cruel.
He described the pleasure of playing a threat who knows exactly where the nerves live, then brushing right up against them. Not to bully, but to draw something sharper out of the scene partner, to make the tension feel alive instead of staged.
Why Andre Worked
Penghlis talked about villains like they’re instruments, not cartoons. “Sometimes you do scenes, and you have such pleasure, especially when you’re a villain, and you have such pleasure in upsetting the actress, but what you get out of them is a good performance,” he said. He further noted that when the story clicks, it’s because the actor finds the human pressure point beneath the mask, then plays the moment right on the edge.
That is why the clown image mattered. The makeup and disguise did not just change Andre. “It freed me,” he explained. The actor explained that looking in the mirror and not recognizing himself felt like the character finally had permission to go further.
And in his mind, that is the whole point of a storyline like Andre the clown. It lives on because it wasn’t only a plot twist. It was a performance engine. It created nerves, it created heat, it made the room unstable in the best way, and it gave Salem a reminder that sometimes the most memorable DiMera isn’t the one in the suit. It’s the one smiling through greasepaint. (Find out how Tony and his siblings said goodbye to Stefano.)
