Michael McBain

Michael McBain is a fictional character from the ABC soap opera One Life to Live.

Casting

The role was originated by R. Brandon Johnson in November 2003. Nathaniel Marston stepped in on February 16, 2004, and ultimately left on November 29, 2007. On January 9 and 10, 2007, Robert Harte temporarily filled in for Marston as Michael. Chris Stack took over the role from December 3, 2007, to June 17, 2009,^[1][2] later making a guest appearance from July 14 through July 16, 2009,^[3][4][5] and on November 12 and 13, 2009. Michael returned on October 25, 27, 28, 2011.

Marston originally played the role of Al Holden from 2001 to 2004. Al was romantically involved with Marcie Walsh; when Al was killed off, fans of the couple organized a write-in campaign calling for Marston's return. Marston later returned to the series in a storyline in which Al's "spirit" helped Michael change his selfish ways and win Marcie's heart. Johnson and Marston alternated in the role of Michael as Al's spirit sometimes "took control" of Michael. At the conclusion of the story on February 16, 2004, Al's spirit took over Michael's body permanently and lost all memory of Al's life; Marston assumed the role full-time with no mention of Al's spirit being inside Michael's body. To the viewer Michael looked like Al, but presumably to everyone else he looked like he did before Al's spirit got inside him.

Storylines

Dr. McBain worked at Llanview Hospital and is the brother of Detective John McBain and husband of Marcie Walsh (whom he married on May 5, 2006). He and Marcie adopted an abandoned baby boy whom they named Tommy McBain.

Michael was told by Rex Balsom that the baby was really the missing son of Todd Manning. When Dr. Spencer Truman is murdered, Rex, who ran into Michael at the hospital on the night of Spencer Truman's murder, believed Michael was the one who stabbed Spencer to prevent him from revealing the paternity of Tommy to Todd Manning (Spencer had kidnapped Tommy, who was really the child of Todd Manning and Margaret Cochran on the day of his birth); Michael believed Rex had committed the murder for the same reason. However, after John had Rex and Michael held overnight in a holding cell for questioning because he believed they were hiding something and wondered what the two could possibly be keeping secret between them, they talked it out and discovered that neither of them had killed Truman.

Michael kept the truth about Tommy's parentage from Marcy. When the truth of Tommy's parentage came to life, Michael had been arrested for perjury, and though he had been out on bail, he missed his hearing when he went to Paris, Texas, with Charlie Banks in order to try to find Marcie, who had left town with Tommy after Todd had been awarded custody of his son, who he called Sam.

Michael was arrested and bought back, but eventually returned to Texas he went back down there with his brother John. The authorities looking for Marcie follow, and a crazed Marcie took Viki Davison hostage in the stand-off. Michael took Viki Davidson's place as Marcie's hostage and convinced her to give up Sam and return to Llanview .

Todd's pregnant teenage daughter Starr Manning gives her unborn baby up for adoption, choosing Marcie and Michael as the adoptive parents. Michael suspects that Todd will thwart the adoption and fears that Marcie cannot survive losing another child; they separate, but Starr is determined for Marcie to adopt her baby, married or not. Starr gives birth on November 6, 2008; Todd had intended to kidnap the child and raise it himself in secret but changes his mind at the last minute. Meanwhile, after losing her own baby in childbirth the same day, Starr's cousin Jessica Brennan — under the influence of her recurring dissociative identity disorder — switches Starr's daughter with her own deceased baby girl. The families come to believe that Starr's child, named Hope, had died. Michael and Marcie reconcile in their grief. The truth comes out and Hope is returned on June 5, 2009;^[6] Michael and Marcie finally assume custody on June 8, 2009.^[7] After overhearing Starr talking about her regrets, Marcie returns Hope to Starr to raise on June 15, 2009.^[8] Michael tells Marcie about an exciting job offer at Seattle Grace Hospital, and they decide to leave Llanview and start over.^[9] Waiting for a cab to pick them up on June 17, 2009, they are overjoyed when a home test reveals that Marcie is pregnant.^[1]

Michael briefly returned in July 2009 to help Rex and Gigi to prove that Stacy was not Shane's stem cell donor, before he returned to Seattle to be with Marcie, where she gave birth to their son, whom they name Gabriel Thomas, on November 13, 2009, in Seattle.^[10]

Michael and Marcie returned on October 25, 2011, to surprise John that Marcie was six months pregnant with their second child.^[11]

References

External links

• Michael McBain profile – ABC.com
• Chris Stack as Michael McBain profile – ABC.com
• Michael McBain profile – SoapCentral.com