Duration 1998–20012012 Last appearance April 6, 2012 | First appearance December 1, 1998 Classification Former, regular Creator Sally Sussman Morina | |
Other names Hope Williams BradyCountess Elsa Similar Hope Williams Brady, John Black, Bo Brady, Stefano DiMera, Santo DiMera | ||
Princess Gina Von Amberg is a fictional character on the American soap opera Days of Our Lives. The role was portrayed from 1998 to 2001 by Kristian Alfonso, who also plays Hope Williams Brady on the series. Alfonso reprised the character of Gina in March 2012 as part of a retconned storyline on the series.
Character's Background
Gina was married to Prince Philip Von Amberg, hence the title "princess". She gave birth to a daughter, Greta, soon after Prince Phillip dies. Princess Gina was a trained art thief and forger hired and manipulated by Stefano DiMera. She stole priceless works of art for him in the 1980s. It was during this time that she fell in love with John Black. When Stefano took John away from her in 1985, Gina became mentally ill, and no longer wished to paint, which meant she was of no use to Stefano. She believed that John had died. Stefano hired a replacement for her in the presumed dead Hope Brady. Gina was lured to Maison Blanche by Stefano, who claimed to be able to cure her depression. After the procedure, Stefano locked Gina in a castle turret at her home, Chateau de Reves, in the countryside outside Paris. She descended into the depths of madness until her daughter, Greta, arrived at the chateau with her friend, Eric Brady. Gina began to reclaim her mind, and was eventually allowed by her manservant, Kurt, to attend a ball thrown in her honor. It was at this ball that Princess Gina met her imposter, Hope. Disguising herself as Countess Elsa Schwengel, Gina and Hope talk and she eventually learns that John was still alive and living in Salem. Gina then lured Hope to the chateau, where she imprisoned her. She then had plastic surgery, made her way to Salem, and impersonated Hope. When Gina arrived in Salem, she realized that John would never leave his wife, Marlena Evans. She then decides to marry Hope's love, Bo Brady, who thought she was Hope. The two planned to marry on New Year's Eve 1999.
On the day of her wedding to Bo, she tried to shoot Marlena Evans and Bo and Hope's son Shawn-Douglas. In Bo's struggle to get the gun away from her, she is shot and died of her wounds on January 14, 2000. She also appeared to her daughter Greta in 2001, when she was completing the tasks necessary for her to become the new Princess Von Amberg.
Gina returns on March 29, 2012 as an alternate personality of Hope's, after being hoaxed and coaxed out of Hope by Stefano, to reclaim a Fabergé-like egg that had been stolen from him; something only Gina and John Black as (The Pawn)/Father John can recover for him.