“We shot scenes with Luke [Anthony Geary] where he was thrown out of the boat,” says Maurice Benard (Sonny). “I remember that, but I don’t remember much else [laughs].”

Though Sonny has originally gone to the sun-kissed isle in 1994 to accompany then-girlfriend Brenda as she and record-company partner Lois planned a concert for their client, Miguel, he was lured into a war with exiled mobster Frank Smith. As a result, he, Brenda and Luke landed squarely in the mob boss’s crosshairs. Ultimately, Frank was killed by Luke.

“We were in the water a lot,” recalls Maurice Benard (Sonny) of his character’s From Here To Eternity smoochin’ in the sand. “And it was cold, man. It was early in the morning; we had to do a bunch of takes. But it was cool.”

“There was one stunt where they wanted me to go on top of a funicular and ride down on top of it, with only a little hinge on my belt. I said, ‘I’m afraid of heights.’ But [former Executive Producer] Wendy [Riche] talked me into it. And being macho, I couldn’t say no. We had to do it, like, five times. By the time I got off, I was crying. ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT put a mike in my face and said, ‘How are you doing?!’ It was scary. And Vanessa [Marcil, ex-Brenda] got on with me. Sonny’s supposed to be saving Brenda from people shooting at them, and Vanessa’s waving her hands and having a ball. I’m petrified. Brenda’s supposed to be petrified and I’m supposed to be the cool one [laughs]. I wouldn’t do it again, but when I saw the scenes, I thought they were great.

“There were people watching up tape. The show was pretty popular down there because [native son] Ricky [Martin, ex-Miguel] was there. So, they really wanted to see him [laughs].

“It was beautiful every single day - sonny, hot. Puerto Rico is the best. I’ve been back to that place [the El Conquistador Resort, where taping took place] three times since.”

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