Sunset Beach - Ricardo Torres

Hank Cheyne's current and probably his most famous role is that of Ricardo Torres on the NBC daytime drama, Sunset Beach. This page is to tell you Ricardo's story.

When the show first began, Ricardo's original love interest was Paula Stevens. It was not long before Ricardo proposed to Paula. They were slated to elope, but the night it was to happen, "bad cop" Eddie Conners, who was in love with Paula, hired a man [Ralph Myers] to kidnap Paula. At this same time, Gabriella Martinez, Paula's sister with an agenda, showed up in Sunset Beach.

It took some time for Ricardo to find Paula, but he saved her just in the nick of time - she was almost killed in an explosion. However, they soon later split up and when Ricardo was in a drunk stupor one night, Gabi got just what she came for - she seduced Ricardo into sleeping with her, truly ruining Ricardo and Paula's relationship.

The final nail in Paula and Ricardo's relationship's coffin was when Gabi accused Ricardo of rape. Paula ended up believing her own sister over Ricardo. Later, on the stand, Gabi broke down and realized it was not Ricardo who had raped her - but her father. She was molested by him as a child. All charges against Ricardo were immediately dropped.

After the trial, Ricardo just could not bring himself to forgive Paula for not believing in him and thinking he could actually rape someone. Paula left town.

Ricardo was able to forgive Gabi, though, as it was not her fault she thought Ricardo had raped her - she was confused about her past, and it had taken some time for her to come to terms with what had happened to her as a child. And a couple of months later, Ricardo and Gabi began to date.

Nothing super serious developed between the two until that summer, when they, along with quite a few other Sunset Beachers, including Ricardo's brother, Father Antonio, went on a cruise. While they were on the cruise, an earthquake struck Sunset Beach and caused a major tidal wave. The tidal wave hit the ship and flipped it completely over. This was when Ricardo truly became the show's hero as he took control and basically saved everyone that would listen to him. Eventually he, Gabi, Antonio, and most of the other Sunset Beachers made it off the ship, due to Ricardo's incredible leadership. There were many emotional scenes between Gabi and Ricardo during the cruise and [I think] this is where they first declared their love for one another.

Right after the cruise, or "Shockwave," rather, Antonio began to have disturbing, erotic dreams about a woman whose face he could not see. When he finally saw the face, it was Gabi, his brother's girlfriend. That's when he realized the feelings he was having for Gabi - romantic feelings. As Gabi & Ricardo's relationship grew, so did Antonio's feelings for Gabi. He tried hard to suppress them. Meanwhile, Antonio was becoming involved in a storyline with cursed jewels. Gabi ended up helping him save many lives, including his own. When they witnessed a miracle together, this may have been when Gabi realized she was having feelings for Antonio, too.

Later, Gabi took an undercover job trying to uncover some embezzlers at the Liberty Corporation. The embezzlers figured out who she was and planned to "get rid of her." They planted a bomb in her office. Meanwhile, someone who knew what was going to happen confessed to Antonio. Antonio put two and two together and took off to warn Gabi. About the time he got to the office, the bomb went off. They both survived, though. Thinking they were going to die, they began to talk about their feelings for each other. One thing led to another, and they ended up making love in the gravel.

Meanwhile, Ricardo was trying his hardest to get to the love of his life and his brother from the outside. With the help of Casey Mitchum and Hank Cummings, he was able to get in there and save Gabi. They barely got dressed before he reached them.

Once Antonio and Gabi were rescued, Antonio didn't want to lie to Ricardo and wanted to tell him what had happened. Gabi, terrified of losing Ricardo, talked him out of it.

The following day, Ricardo proposed to Gabi, and she accepted. All was going well for Gabi until Francesca Vargas, who had had a video camera in Gabi's office for her own reasons, showed up - with a tape of Antonio and Gabi making love. She blackmailed Gabi for two hundred grand. Gabi tried as hard as she could to get the money, but was unsuccessful. However, before Francesca could tell anyone, she was murdered.

Gabi and Antonio spent the next two months searching high and low for the tape. They ended up at Francesca's cabin in Big Bear, snowed in. At this time, Gabi broke down and decided to tell Ricardo the truth.

Meanwhile, in Sunset Beach, Ricardo was at the Java Web with his sister, Maria. They stood up to leave when a robber came into the store. The robber found out Ricardo was a cop and freaked out. He demanded Ricardo hand over his gun, but Ricardo refused. At the same time, Annie Richards, who had earphones on and evidentally didn't notice the looks of terror on everyone's face, came into the Java Web and headed straight over to Ricardo and Maria. Just then she spotted the robber and began to move away, startling the robber. He shot the gun, and Ricardo, showing again what a true hero he is, jumped in front of the bullet.

Ricardo went through surgery and came out of it okay. At the same time, Gabi, who had finally made it home, found out about Ricardo's shooting and went straight there. About the time she arrived, Ricardo woke up. He and Gabi talked for a long while, and Ricardo decided to move the wedding up to a much earlier date. Gabi realized that she couldn't tell Ricardo the truth now.

Meanwhile, Maria met Antonio at the mission. She had known about Antonio's feelings for Gabi, and had begun to put things together. She eventually figured out what had happened, and Antonio confirmed it. Maria reluctantly promised not to tell Ricardo for fear of ruining both of her brothers.

As Ricardo got out of the hospital, Gabi and Antonio finally found the tape of them making love. Gabi took it and intended to burn it. But Carmen, Ricardo & Antonio's mother, had heard Gabi talking to Antonio on the phone and knew the proof of Gabi's betrayal of Ricardo was on that tape. Somehow, she managed to switch the tape with a blank one, and Gabi and Antonio burned the wrong one.

Carmen viewed the tape, and was heartbroken to see her beloved Antonio betraying Ricardo with "the demon whore," her 'affectionate' name for Gabi. Being a mother, she immediately blamed Gabi for the whole thing. The next day, at Gabi & Ricardo's wedding, she showed up and demanded that Gabi leave town or she [Carmen] would show the tape to Ricardo. Gabi, out of options, decided to leave Ricardo at the alter and leave town. She ran away to her hometown of Blanco, TX.

Antonio managed to track Gabi down and flew right out to Blanco. Meanwhile Ricardo figured out what Antonio was doing and followed him out there. Antonio got to Gabi first and once Gabi told him what his mother had done, Antonio promised her he would get the tape back, and left.

Later, Gabi ran into Ricardo in Blanco. After a long talk, Gabi was unable to say that she did not love Ricardo, and came back with him to Sunset Beach. Meanwhile, Antonio went to see his mother, and managed to take the tape away from her. He took it back to the mission and burned it. But unbeknowst to Antonio, Carmen had another copy of the tape. Later, Maria came by to see Carmen, and talked her out of ever telling Ricardo about the tape because it would ruin him and their entire family. So Carmen threw the tape in her garbage can.

Later that night, Ricardo came to see his mother, but she was not there. He found the tape in the garbage can, and curious, put it in the VCR. And, with an incredible and heart-wrenching performance from Hank Cheyne, Ricardo watched the tape. His emotions went from disbelief to unbearable sadness to rage against his brother and fiancee. He left Carmen's and tore over to the mission to find the people who had betrayed him.

When he arrived at the mission, he couldn't find them in the rectory, so he went into the chapel. There, Gabi and Antonio found him. Ricardo tried to say something, but instead collapsed. He was taken to the hospital and was diagnosed as having had a stroke.

Gabi was devastated, but swore she would dedicate her life to making Ricardo better. And she came up with the idea of marrying Ricardo in the hospital. She went to Ricardo, who was only able to communicate through blinking, and asked him what he thought. He told her no, and later changed his mind to yes. After the wedding ceremony, Ricardo gleefully thought that he would make Antonio and Gabi pay for what they've done to him. In Ricardo's mind, Antonio and Gabi are having a full-blown affair and Ricardo is just a cover.

Will Ricardo ever recover from his stroke? How will he get his revenge against Gabi and Antonio? Stay tuned to Sunset Beach to find out.