Michael Nader is best known for playing a billionaire playboy, but his acting career had far more humble beginnings. He owed his career to his surfing skills, really.

His parents split soon after he was born, and mom took Michael west to California. Growing up in Los Angeles, he took to the beach and water. When he was 16, in 1961, Nader appeared in a LIFE Magazine spread on the budding surfing craze, in a piece titled "The Mad, Happy Surfers: A Way of Life on the Wavetops."

Hollywood took notice, and the surfer boy landed small roles in Beach Party films. His breakthrough recurring role was as "Siddo" on Gidget. Back then, he went by "Mike." The gig kept him close to a surfboard, as you can see here in a pose with costar Sally Field.

Everett CollectionNader on 'Gidget'

Despite his affinity for the waves, Nader found his true calling in soap operas. Daytime came calling first, as he had a regular role on As the World Turns in the late 1970s. Most will fondly recall the actor as the (arguably second) true love of Alexis Colby's life on Dynasty.

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Jon-Erik Hexum, the Voyagers! star who would tragically die young in 1984, was one of the finalists for the role of Dex Dexter. Nader nabbed the role instead. The filthy rich entrepreneur was intended to be a small role, a transitional love interest for Alexis (Joan Collins) after her break from Blake Carrington.

Nader would stay on Dynasty until the end of the series, from 1983–89, becoming Alexis' ride-or-die lover.

In the Nineties, Nader returned to daytime, playing another notable boyfriend, this time by the side of Erica Kane (Susan Lucci) on All My Children.

Nader's real-life wife, Jodi Lister, released a statement that her husband had died, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He was 76.