Outstanding performer for the week of August 16th
Cady McClain (Dixie, All My Children)

It was a heartbreaking week for All My Children’s Dixie when she miscarried her much-wanted baby, but an incredible one for her portrayer, Cady McClain. Through McClain’s artistry, we shared Dixie’s pain both physically and emotionally, and we, like her, were exhausted by it.

McClain made the most of her own fragility as Dixie took some pretty big emotional hits. "I’m sorry she wouldn’t wait," a tearful Dixie told Tad in trying to explain the miscarriage (if such a tragedy can be explained). Supported brilliantly by Vincent Irizarry, Mary Fickett and Michael E. Knight (David, Ruth and Tad), Dixie’s disappointement and pain reverberated through McClain’s delicate frame.

When Dixie was first rushed to the hospital, her physical pain, coupled with her great fear of losing the baby, caused hysteria and delirium. She wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but she knew it was bad. Very bad. Wisely, McClain kept a complete breakdown at bay; insteady she guided us through the grieving process, but by bit. (The AMC writers are to be commended for the well-scripted episodes.)

When still under the anesthesia following the D&C, Dixie dreamed of her little girl. Only then was there any lightness in her face. Half asleep, she told Tad that their daughter looked like him. But then, she woke up and asked where she was. When it slowly dawned on her why she was in the hosputal, a dark cloud covered her visage: She had to confront the trgedy all over again, and her eyes welled up with tears.

"We lost her, didn’t we? We lost the baby," Dixie said to Tad. Tad and Dixie wept, and so did we. --Gabrielle Winkel