Michael Nader obituary

Michael Nader, who has died of cancer aged 76, was a TV heart-throb of the 1980s, appearing in the glitzy American soap Dynasty as Dex Dexter, who for a while “tamed” Alexis, the “superbitch” played by Joan Collins, in the TV-speak of the time. Dynasty’s ratings had soared with the introduction of Collins at the start of the programme’s second series in 1981. Her character was seeking revenge on her first husband, the ruthless oil business billionaire Blake Carrington (played by John Forsythe).

In 1983, after her short-lived marriage to Blake’s business competitor, Cecil Colby (Lloyd Bochner) – he died of a heart attack minutes after the wedding – Nader arrived in Denver, Colorado, as the tall, broad-shouldered, square-jawed mining engineer Dex, acting for his family’s company.

Dex and Alexis were immediately drawn to one another and the two became lovers. Their relationship was tempestuous and Nader added to the already edge-of-your-seats drama when he showed that Dex – notable most of the time for being honest, unlike most of those around him – had the measure of Alexis.

Dex later slept with her daughter, Amanda (Catherine Oxenberg), when the pair were snowed in at a ski lodge, before marrying Alexis in 1985. For a while, such increasingly sensational storylines saw Dynasty overtake Dallas, its rival American soap featuring Larry Hagman as the satan in a stetson JR Ewing, in both the American ratings and worldwide viewing figures.

While Collins battled for the upper hand with the other rich, glamorous women, Nader’s character, a former Green Beret, swung into action when Moldavian rebels launched an attack on the chapel where Amanda was marrying the Prince of Moldavia (Michael Praed).

Alexis eventually filed for divorce in 1987 after walking in on Dex and Amanda in bed together, but he stayed in Denver to work on a Carrington-Colby pipeline project. The couple could never completely break their ties as Dex continued to look out for Alexis – and they briefly resumed their relationship. “He remains the most caring and yet the most macho of the males,” wrote the TV critic Hilary Kingsley.

The fate of the pair was literally left hanging in the balance in Dynasty’s final episode, in 1989, when Alexis tackled Dex about his affair with her cousin Sable (Stephanie Beacham) and they both fell from a hotel balcony.

Nader was born in St Louis, Missouri, to Minnette (nee Glogovac) and John Nader, a descendant of Lebanese immigrants. His uncle was George Nader, a B-movie actor whose partner, Mark Miller, later became Rock Hudson’s personal secretary.

Several months after Michael’s birth, his parents split up and he moved to Los Angeles with his mother, who became a backing singer for Lena Horne. He was struck by a drink-drive motorist when he was six and underwent cosmetic surgery but was left with a scar on his cheek.

A rebel at Palisades Charter high school, he found a release in surfing in Malibu. “You got a pair of trunks, the ocean, a board under you – and no regulations,” said Nader.

On leaving school at 18, his surfing skills and tall, slim, athletic build led him to be cast in the film Beach Party (1963), a musical comedy marketed with the line: “It’s what happens when 10,000 kids meet on 5,000 beach blankets!”

It launched the big screen’s colourful teen “beach party” phenomenon starring the popular actor-singers Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Over the next two years, Nader appeared in a further seven films in the series, including Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), with Linda Evans playing a “beach bunny” and up-and-coming singer. He went from being one of the crowd to featured roles.

He then landed a semi-regular part in the sitcom Gidget (1965-66) as Siddo, a school friend of Sally Fields’ surfing, boy-mad teenager.

Apart from Dynasty, Nader was best known in his homeland for parts in two daytime soap operas, first as Kevin Thompson, a mining company worker, in As the World Turns (1976-78). Later, he played the mysterious Hungarian count Dimitri Marick in All My Children (1991-2001) but was sacked after being arrested in possession of an illegal substance, which resulted in him going into rehab. Years earlier, he had admitted to using marijuana and psychedelic drugs in his teens as a “spiritual quest”. He made a comeback as Dimitri for more than 40 episodes in 2013.

Nader’s first two marriages, to Robin Weiss (1984-90) and Beth Windsor (1992-94), ended in divorce. He is survived by his third wife, Jodi Lister, whom he married in 2004, and Lindsay, the daughter from his first marriage.

• Michael Robert Nader, actor, born 19 February 1945; died 23 August 2021