Tad Martin and Dixie Cooney

Tad and Dixie (Michael E. Knight and Cady McClain)

Tad Martin and Dixie Cooney Martin are fictional characters and a supercouple on the American soap opera All My Children. Tad is played by Michael E. Knight and Dixie is played by Cady McClain.

History

Soon after her arrival in Pine Valley, Dixie fell under the influence of Adam Chandler (David Canary), the arch enemy of her Uncle Palmer (James Mitchell). Although Adam and Brooke (Julia Barr) were happily married at the time, Adam realized that Brooke could not give him the one thing that he wanted most in the world -- a son. Adam had a brief affair with Dixie, and she became pregnant. Adam suggested to Brooke that they adopt Dixie's baby and she agreed, but she had one small problem -- just who was the father? Brooke hired Tad to find out who fathered Dixie's baby, and Tad and Dixie became friends. They talked, laughed, ate chicken fingers and became very close. However, their bond was shattered when Dixie realized that Tad was only interested in her to find out information for Brooke. She decided to try and make it work with Adam, but deep down she knew that Tad had found his way into her heart.

Dixie married Adam, not knowing that he was only interested in gaining full custody of their child. Tad persisted in warning Dixie about Adam's true intentions, but she simply wouldn't listen. "I'm his wife Tad, of course he loves me!", was what Dixie usually replied whenever Tad would suggest that Adam was only after the baby. Despite Dixie's stubbornness and refusal to face the truth, Tad persisted in warning his beloved and his insistence got him beaten up by Adam's thugs. Dixie nursed her best friend back to health, and the two once again felt the closeness they had shared at the beginning of their friendship. On the day Adam Jr. (now played by Jacob Young) was born, Tad revealed he wanted more than friendship. He had fallen in love with the girl from Pigeon Hollow and finally admitted his true feelings. Although it was obvious to the audience that Dixie loved Tad too, she decided to stay with Adam and told Tad that they could not be friends or see each other anymore.

Staying away from each other proved to be very painful and difficult for Tad and Dixie, especially considering that Pine Valley is a small town. Try as she may, Dixie was unable to stay away from Tad and when Adam Jr. was kidnapped, Dixie immediately called him. While everyone thought Skye (Robin Christopher) was the kidnapper, Tad managed to prove that the baby snatcher was really Karen (Ellen Wheeler).

Determined to get sole custody of Junior, Adam came up with a very elaborate and sadistic plot to make Dixie think that she was losing her mind. In time, Adam's plan worked and he sent Dixie to a sanitarium. Adam looked forward to raising his son and winning back Brooke, but had not counted on the fact that Tad would stop at nothing to get Dixie out of that mental institution. With Cecily (Rosa Nevin) and Nico (Maurice Benard)'s help, Tad managed to free his beloved from the clutches of Adam and his accomplice, Dr. Snow. While on the run from Adam, Dixie finally admitted her true feelings to Tad -- she did not love Adam.

Even though they had managed to prove that Dixie was sane, she still lost custody of Adam Jr., and Adam offered her generous visiting privileges if she agreed to a quick divorce, which she did. Finally freed from Adam, Dixie fell into Tad's arms and he proposed to his true love wearing a bright yellow chicken suit. Dixie happily accepted Tad's proposal, and the two made plans to wed. Their happiness was further cemented when Dixie regained custody of her son, and Palmer got the best of Adam in a business deal. Tad and Dixie finally tied the knot in late December 1989.

The couple divorced, however, just months later in May of 1990 after Tad's mother, Opal, and Palmer interfered. They soon grew close again but their plans to remarry were spoiled after Tad was presumed dead following an explosion. Three years later in 1993 it was revealed that Tad had survived the explosion and had been living in California under a different name. He and Dixie reconciled and in 1994 they remarried. With Tad's help she finally regained custody of Adam Jr.

Their second marriage, like the first, only lasted a few months when Tad had an affair. Dixie divorced Tad and took Adam Jr. and moved to Pigeon Hollow, West Virginia. But she returned to Pine Valley in 1998 when Adam Chandler demanded to see his son. She and Tad began dating again and in 1999 they married a third time. By late in 2001 their marriage had collapsed again. In January of 2002 she left Tad and Adam Jr. and went to the Caribbean were she got a divorce from Tad. But Dixie regretted doing this and returned to Pine Valley to try and reconcile with Tad. She and Tad made up but then Dixie learned she was pregnant with a baby girl and fled to Switzerland to have her in secret. Four months later, on May 10, 2002 while driving back from Geneva to Bern she was in involved in a horrible car crash and was presumed dead. Tad and Adam Jr. wept but went on with their lives.

The character of Dixie is still mentioned often on All My Children. There was a storyline where a woman named Di Kirby (played by Kelli Giddish) claimed to be the “back from the dead” Dixie. But she was later revealed to be Dixie's half sister.

As of December 23rd, 2005, it was revealed that Dixie did indeed survive the automobile accident that was thought to have claimed her life while she was in Europe. Di went to visit Dixie, and urged her to return to Pine Valley and let her family know she was alive. Dixie returned to Pine Valley in February, 2006 and attended the Mardi Gras ball thrown by Erica Kane. Because her face was hidden by a mask, no one from her family recognized her. She did, however, witness a tender moment between Tad and Di. Janet Dillon rigged the hot water heater at the mansion where the ball was being held so that it would explode. When it did, Dixie was trapped by some rubble. She managed to escape without being discovered by anyone. She went to Wildwind, where Di was staying. In the middle of confronting her sister, Tad arrived and Dixie ran off. Later, she ran into Zach Slater, and he promised not to reveal the fact she is still alive. Most recently, she watched in horror as her son held a gun to Krystal, demanding to know where his ex-wife Babe took their son. Tad tried to wrestle the gun away from J.R., but the gun went off and hit Dixie in the arm. It was soon revealed that Tad and Dixie's baby Kate was in fact alive, but was taken by Dr. Greg Madden, a famous surgeon who is hated by virtually everybody in Pine Valley. A few months earlier Tad had informed Erica that Greg stole her baby in 1973, the one she had an abortion on, and Erica's son is in fact her former producer Josh, who drugged her into stabbing Zach Slater.

On April 14, 2006, Tad and Dixie were finally face to face for the first time since Dixie's presumed death. This resulted in the infamous Friday cliffhanger and fans heavenly awaited for Monday to roll aound. On April 17, Tad looked at Dixie with an astonished face and left with her, resulting in Tad punching David Hayward. Tad first thought David's obsession with Dixie led him to get plastic surgery on someone, but once Dixie said the words "Ozzie & Harriet", he knew this was the true Dixie.

Tad was furious that Dixie had left him and grew even more so when he learned that she had given away Kate after letting Greg Madden convince her that Tad could not love a daughter who would remind him of Dixie's death. Tad vented his anger while testifying at Dixie's trial when she stood accused of Greg Madden's murder. Afterward, however, the two began reconciling. Tad invited her for a date one morning, and Dixie accepted. However, she died that day after eating poisoned pancakes.

Tad's Life History

Actor History

Matthew Anton (1973 to 1977)
John E Dunn (1978 to 1981)
Terrell Anthony (1990)
Michael E. Knight (1982 to 1986, 1988 to 1990, 1992 to Present)

Other Names

Tad Gardner (until his 1978 adoption)
Thadeus Martin (full name)

Lifeline

Born September 1st, 1963

Occupation

Former partner in Martin and Devane Private Investigators
Former private investigator (License revoked Mar 2005)Former Co-CEO of Chandler Enterprises (Fired Apr 22nd, 2003)
Former Producer and Host of Nothing But the Truth
Former Producer and Host of The Cutting Edge
Former head of Orsini Vineyards
Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity

Resides At

646 Holland Avenue

Marital Status

Single/Divorced (Dixie Cooney; January 22nd, 2002)

Past Marriages

Dottie Thornton
Hillary Wilson
Dixie Cooney (married December 1989; divorced)
Brooke English (married 2003; divorced)
Dixie Cooney (married May 1994; divorced)
Dixie Cooney (married May 1999; divorced)

Relatives

Ray Gardner (biological father)
Joseph Martin Sr. (adoptive father)
Opal (biological mother)
Ruth Parker (adoptive mother)
Jenny Gardner (biological sister)
Adrian Sword (biological half-brother)
Peter Cortlandt (biological half-brother)
Jeff Martin (adoptive half-brother)
Tara Martin (adoptive half-sister)
Bobby Martin (adoptive half-brother)
Philip Brent (adoptive half-brother / adoptive maternal cousin)
Joseph "Jake" Martin Jr. (adoptive brother)
Henry Martin (adoptive grandfather; deceased)
Kate Martin (adoptive grandmother; deceased)
Paul Martin (adoptive paternal uncle)
Amy Parker (adoptive paternal aunt)
Elizabeth Martin (adoptive paternal cousin; deceased)
Charlie Brent (adoptive half-nephew / adoptive first cousin once removed)
Kelsey Jefferson (adoptive half-niece)
Joshua Madden (adoptive half-nephew)
Samuel Carlos Grey (adoptive great-half-nephew)

Children

James Edward Martin (with Brooke)
Unnamed Child (with Brooke; ectopic pregnancy)
Unnamed Child (daughter; with Dixie; miscarriage)
Kate Martin(daughter; with Dixie)
Dixie and Tad refer to their unnamed daughter as "Bess"

Flings & Affairs

Pam Coulson (Dated in high school)
Leslie Coulson's cousin (Name unknown; Dated in high school)
Liza Colby
Marian Colby (simultaneously with daughter Liza)
Dottie Thornton
Barbara Montgomery
Skye Chandler Quartermaine
Liza Colby
Gloria Marsh
Leslie Coulson
Simone Torres (lovers)
Krystal Carey (lovers)
Diana Henry (broken engagement)

Dixie's Life History