LIHUE — Soap opera actor Nathaniel Marston, who spent his childhood on Kauai, has died from his injuries nearly two weeks after he crashed a pickup truck and was ejected in rural Nevada, authorities said Thursday. He was 40.
Marston was best-known for his role as Dr. Michael McBain on ABC’s “One Life to Live,” from 2001 to 2007, and as Eddie Silva in CBS’ “As the World Turns.” IMDB.com listed his most recent roles in 2011.
The Washoe County Medical Examiner and Coroner’s Office said Marston died Wednesday at the Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno.
The crash happened the night of Oct. 30 on State Route 447 near the tiny town of Nixon, the Nevada Highway Patrol said.
Marston, who lived in nearby Gerlach, was driving a 1985 Ford F-150 truck when it drifted across the lane, overturned multiple times and landed on the dirt shoulder. The actor wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from the vehicle. He was flown to the hospital with critical injuries.
The cause of Marston’s death was pending further investigation, said Rudy Bein from the coroner’s office.
Marston was 3 years old when his family relocated from Connecticut to Kauai. He lived in Kapaa until he was 14, when he left to pursue a career as an actor in California, according to his brother Ikaika Birtodaso, who still lives on the island.
“He was and will always be a legend in my mind,” Birtodaso said. “He was the big brother that could make things happen when situations felt hopeless. He was the big brother that could fix anything. He always could find a way to make things work.
He was a kind, compassionate soul that would always stand up for the little guy and anyone in need. Words cannot describe how much our family will miss his smile and his huge hugs.”
The actor had largely been out of the spotlight since his soap opera days, after a 2007 New York brawl while he was still on “One Life to Live.” He left the show shortly after his arrest for the incident.
Marston was accused of attacking three men with a metal crate and kicking at police officers during the scuffle at a Manhattan gas station. The fight left an officer bruised and one man with a broken leg.
Marston initially was charged with four counts of second-degree assault, menacing, reckless endangerment and resisting arrest. In March 2010, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge, admitting to resisting arrest. A plea deal had Marston complete an anger-management program in exchange for his case to be closed without jail time or probation.
On his website, in April 2010, Marston wrote: “I want to thank all the people who believed in my innocence and who sent their love and encouragement to me. Your support helped keep my spirits up during a very difficult time.”
Though he left the Garden Isle during his teen years, Marston always wanted to return to Kauai and live in a simpler way, like when he and his brother were growing up in Kapaa with their father, Ali Martin Birtodaso, and mother, Elizabeth Jackson, Birtodaso said.
“He will be returning soon to be in the ocean that he loved so very much, to watch over all the ohana and the keikis for eternity,” Birtodaso said.
