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SOAP STAR BUSTED IN COKE SALE

Square-jawed soap star Michael Nader, who plays a dashing count on ABC’s “All My Children,” was busted at an illegal East Village nightclub yesterday and charged with selling cocaine to an undercover cop.

The 56-year-old former “Dynasty” star wound up behind bars after cops from the Manhattan South Precinct swept up 24 revelers at the dingy Barber Shop after-hours club in an early-morning raid.

Nader, who’s no stranger to police, was one of five clubgoers charged with a felony count of selling a controlled substance, a $20 bag of cocaine, police said.

Police described the late-night club on Second Street where they found the daytime hunk as a run-down hangout for small-time drug pushers. It is marked only by a cardboard sign.

“It’s not ritzy,” one officer said. “We keep busting it over and over again, but it keeps opening up.”

“He was very distraught,” the officer said. “He told us that his mother had just passed away.”

Following his felony arrest, Nader was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment of an undisclosed illness. He was listed in stable condition.

It wasn’t the first substance-abuse-related embarrassment for Nader.

In August 1997, he was arrested and charged with brawling with Long Island cops after allegedly driving drunk with his then 13-year-old daughter, Lindsay Michelle, in the passenger seat.

Nader, who began his career in the 1960s with silly teen flicks like “Pajama Boy” and “Muscle Beach Party,” told TV Guide in 1984 that he had a drug problem for years.

Nader, who grew up in Beverly Hills, said he started using marijuana and psychedelic drugs at 15 or 16 as a “spiritual quest.”

“My friends and I, we all burned the candle of life strongly and early,” he said.

He claimed that he quit drinking and taking drugs in 1980, just before he reached the height of his fame as Joan Collins’ love interest, Farnsworth “Dex” Dexter, on “Dynasty.”

He said his sobriety prompted him to lecture other users about the toll drugs took on his friends.

After his “Dynasty” stint, he took on the “All My Children” role of Count Dimitri Marick, the love interest of Susan Lucci’s character Erica Kane.

Nader and his wife, Robin, have one daughter. Yesterday, Nader was in custody in Bellevue. His management firm was not available for comment.

NADER’S RISE – AND FALL?

* Born Feb. 19, 1945, in St. Louis. He moves to Beverly Hills with his father and mother, who was a singer.

* Goes to Beverly Hills HS, where he’s a surfer, and begins experimenting with drugs as a teen.

* The nephew of B-movie actor George Nader, Michael Nader begins his career in ’60s teen movies. He also has a role in the TV show “Gidget.” He then moves to New York in his 20s.

* After some off-Broadway roles and three years on “As the World Turns,” he plays Joan Collins’ love interest “Dex” Dexter on “Dynasty.” He’s so hot he has to be shuttled out the side door after attending Broadway plays so he won’t be mobbed.

* Tells interviewers in 1984 that he has kicked drugs, which he says have ruined the lives of some of his friends. He also says that he wants to help others kick drugs by speaking at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

* In 1991, he takes on the role of Count Dimitri Marick on “All My Children,” playing opposite Susan Lucci’s character, Erica Kane.

* On Aug. 23, 1997, he is arrested on the Long Island Expressway for drunken driving and scuffling with a police officer.

* On Feb. 24, 2001, he is arrested on felony charges at a run-down New York after-hours club for allegedly selling a $20 bag of cocaine to an undercover officer.

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