Michael Nader became a fan favourite on Dynasty, starring as Joan Collins' husband Dex Dexter. Photo / Getty Images
Michael Nader became a fan favourite on Dynasty, starring as Joan Collins' husband Dex Dexter. Photo / Getty Images
American actor Michael Nader, who is best known for starring on the original Dynasty, has died aged 76.
His wife, Jodi Lister, confirmed the news on social media this morning, saying he died in his California home from untreatable cancer on August 23, just 10 days after being diagnosed.
"Hisdeath and diagnosis was sudden and unexpected and I have never experienced such agony as watching my soulmate die before my eyes," Lister wrote via Nader's official Facebook page.
It grieves me to share the sad news that my husband, Michael Nader, passed away at home on August 23rd. He was diagnosed...
Lister, who married Nader in 2014, added in a press statement: "We had 18 wonderful years together with the many dogs we fostered and adopted. Recently, Michael was so thrilled to reconnect with his friends from the cast of Dynasty during Emma Samms virtual event to help raise funds for Long-Covid research. He was a beautiful and fascinating man with many talents and skills. I will miss him forever."
Nader was best known for his role as Dex Dexter on the ABC prime time soap opera Dynasty from 1983 to 1989, his character becoming the third husband of Joan Collins' character, Alexis Carrington Colby.
He also starred as Dimitri Marick on the popular soap opera All My Children from 1991 to 2001, before reprising his role in 2013.
Nader has previously been open about his substance abuse issues, which saw him get sacked from the show, including a DUI charge in 1997 and an arrest in 2001 for reportedly trying to sell a bag of cocaine to an undercover police officer in New York.
Lister said Nader had been writing a book about his battles prior to his death.
"He was working on a book about his life and addiction before he passed," she wrote. "He had so many talents and skills and it's hard to imagine living life without his beautiful and wonderful presence, joy and laughter."
His final filming project was his brief return to an online revival of All My Children in 2013.
Michael Nader has died aged 76. Photo / Getty Images
Just prior to getting the call-up, Nader said in an interview he had been "out of the game" for so long and was at peace with the fact he may never return to acting.
"I did a couple of guest spots on Cold Case, and little things. Then I started drifting around and going to those, 'Let's see what they look like today interviews.' And you know what? The industry has changed so much. It's sit around and wait," he told Michael Fairman TV in 2013.
"I have a friend, a very good actor. For seven years he did not get work. All of a sudden, he started to get some voiceover work, and it was enough to make a living in Hollywood. [Then] I got call that he had a cerebral haemorrhage in his sleep. They found him three days later with his dogs around him. So he waited by the phone, he got a little bite of life, and then he was taken.
"And I said, 'You know, I am so lucky of what I did, and to live in this wonderful community in Lake Tahoe. I am at peace.'"
Nader is survived by wife Lister, daughter Lindsay, stepmother Lillian and sister Stephanie.
