TV star defends soap’s most bonkers storyline involving a killer gorilla

Former US soap actress Randall Edwards has defended a storyline from ABC soap opera Ryan’s Hope – that saw her character thrown off a tower by a gorilla.

No, this is not an April Fool.

Ryan’s Hope was on American screens for almost thirteen years between 1975 and 1989, and followed a large Irish-American family living in Manhattan, New York.

Randall, who now works as a psychologist, was the third actress to portray Delia Coleridge and was in the show for three years.

The character had a number of high-profile storylines, including pushing her first husband down a flight of stairs, faking a miscarriage and blindness, plus losing her business to a mob boss.

However, in March 1980, one of Soapland’s most bizarre storylines ever played out, when Delia found herself in a bit of a predicament with a primate she had befriended.

Capitalising on the success of the King Kong remake four years earlier, we saw gloomy Delia head to the zoo and form a connection with Prince Albert the gorilla.

The story showed humans and animals have a genuine bond, but there was significant backlash from viewers – particularly from those who couldn’t look past the fact the ape was actually actor Donald Van Horn in a costume.

Delia was in a state of distress and had become estranged from husband Roger (Ron Hale). As she dragged herself through an empty building, she encountered Prince Albert, who was on the lookout for a sexual partner.

To Roger’s horror, he and the police watched on from the street as Delia was thrown to the ground from a tower – though luckily she survived.

Now, over four decades on from that truly wild story, Randall has broken her silence and praised the plot to author Tom Lisanti, who has penned a book on the history of Ryan’s Hope.

‘I had some of my most personally emotional moments performing some of those scenes in the Prince Albert story – even with the guy in the gorilla suit,’ she said.

‘To me, it was a yearning for acceptance and love, which was Delia’s prime motivation for everything that she did.

‘Donald Van Horn, the man in the gorilla suit, was amazing.

‘The most remarkable thing was the fact that Donald really did act, both with his body movements in the suit mimicking a gorilla and especially with his eyes, the only part of him that showed.

‘He conveyed a lot with those eyes.’

Whilst such storylines aren’t commonplace in the UK, soap operas around the world are known for their outlandish moments.

Last year, Aussie phenomenon Neighbours aired a death by crocodile, with another character almost drowning in a corn silo shortly prior.

In Germany, Unter Uns celebrated its 30th anniversary by bringing back popular character Margot Weigel – despite actress Christiane Maybach being dead since 2006.

Using AI technology, another actress, Angela H. Fischer, had her likeness and voice changed to mimic Christiane.

US soaps often delve into the supernatural, with The Bold and the Beautiful reviving Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) last year by revealing it was actually her doppelgänger – who had undergone plastic surgery to look identical – that had been murdered.

Days of Our Lives’ Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) has been possessed twice in 25 years, with her eyes turning green and, on one occasion, transforming into a jaguar.

I need a lie-down.

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