Mickey Horton

Mickey Horton
Soap opera character

Appearances	November 8 1965 - 2006
Date of birth	19 January, 1932
Date of death	-
Gender	Male
Parents	Tom and Alice Horton
Siblings	Bill, Addie, Marie & Tommy Horton
Married	Laura Spencer (1967-1974)- Divorced Maggie Simmons (1973-1974) -invalid, Maggie Simmons (1975-1983) -Divorced, Maggie Simmons (1986-2004)-invalid, Bonnie Lockhart (2004) -Anulled & Maggie Simmons (2004)-
Children	Sarah Horton(adoptive), Mike Horton (adoptive), Melissa Anderson (adoptive)& Janice Barnes(adoptive)
Romantic entanglements	Diane Hunter, Laura Spencer, Linda Anderson, Maggie Simmons & Bonnie Lockart
Occupation	Lawyer
Portrayer	John Clarke (1965-2004), John Voight (2004) & John Ingle (2004-2006]]

Michael "Mickey" Horton (born January 19, 1932) is a fictional character on the soap opera Days of our Lives.For the majority of his run, he was played by John Clarke right from the first episode of Days and was one of the few original actors, to go on after 1966.

Character History - the early years

Mickey is the middle son of Tom and Alice Horton, he has other siblings: Tommy, Addie, Marie and possibly, his biggest rival, Bill Horton. In the first episode in 1965, Mickey was a lawyer in Salem, his father, Tom Horton found out that his granddaughter, Julie Olson (Mickey's neice) has stolen some fur from a clothes shop. Tom had to go to the police station and asked Mickey to go down with him to help with the legal side of things, Tom and Mickey did not inform Alice of where they were going who was busy discussing the wedding arrangements with Marie and Tony Meritt as they did not want to worry her, after a discussion at the police statin with the police chief and Julie, they finally returned home.

In 1965, Mickey started a relashionship with Diane Hunter, whose divorce case Mickey was dealing with and helped her to deal with daughter Susan. Diane and her husband later got back together mainly beacause of their daughter Susan, but in 1966, Laura Spencer arrived in Salem. Bill later set the two up and after the David Martin murder case they grew closer and became engaged and married the next year. Mickey later tested if he was unable to have children but the results were forgot about when he discovered that Laura was pregnant, however the father of this unborn child was not Mickey; little did he know that his brother, Bill Horton had raped her in a drunken rage. When Tom saw the results of Mickey's test, he confronted Laura who confessed that Bill had assaulted her, they agreed to keep quiet to protect the family, in 1969, Michael William Horton was born and Mickey still had no clue.

Mickey later had an affair with his secretary, Linda Patterson in 1970 and after Mickey refused to leave Laura for her, Linda attempted suicide and broadcasted her affair to the whole of Salem. However Mickey and Laura stayed together for the sake of young Michael, but when Michael learnt of the affair,in 1973, he confronted Mickey, who suffered a heart attack but his brother, Dr. Bill Horton performed a life saving operation which pulled Mickey through. However shortly after, he suffered a stroke and managed to walk out of the hospital, however he suffered with amnesia and had forgot a lot, even his name. Mickey invented a new name for himself: Marty Hanson, he walked out of Salem and was taken in by a crippled farm girl called Maggie Simmons they soon fell in love and married. Mickey later saw operations being offered at Salem university hospital for Maggie's disabilities. Later, after his picture appeared in the paper, Mickey was reunited with the Hortons, though he had no memory of them. Bill offered to operate on Mickey in hopes of returning his memory, but Mickey refused.

When Bill Horton operated on Maggie Simmons in 1975, it failed and Mickey pointed the finger at Bill for her inability to walk, though Laura told Mickey and Maggie the paralysis was mental now. Mickey promised Maggie she would walk again and her took her back home to her farm. Mickey then divorced Laura who had been having an affair with his brother, Bill. Then he and Maggie married on 25th January 1975.

In 1976 Mickey discovered that he was not Mike's biological father. After Mike suffered an accident on Maggie's farm Mickey and Laura donated blood, but when neither matched he realized he could not be Mike's father. Mickey looked through medical records, and when he found out his brother Bill was a match all of Mickey's memory came back to him. Mickey then went to Linda Patterson and asked if Melissa could possibly be his child, and she told him no because he was unable to have children, according to Laura Horton. Angry at being lied to for years Mickey bought a gun and plotted to kill Bill, and when the two fought over the gun it went off, it shot Bill in the arm. After the fight Mickey suffered a mental breakdown and was admitted to Bayview Sanitarium for a year. Mickey was released and he and Maggie adopted Janice Barnes. In 1978 Janice was taken from Mickey and Maggie by her mother Joanna Barnes. Janice was found and went back to Mickey and Maggie, but Joanna accepted a job in Salem and stayed near to her daughter. This relationship took it's toll on Maggie, who began to drink heavily. Eventually Mickey and Maggie lost custody of Janice to her mother in 1979.

During 1981, Maggie accepted to be a surrogate mother for an anonymous donner. Maggie approached Neil who performed the procedure which inseminated Maggie. Shortly after, Maggie fell pregnant.

Mickey found out that the baby she was had was Evan Whyland's, and even when he confronted maggie with the facts, Maggie stated that she still wanted to keep the baby no matter who the father, so Mickey agreed to love it as it was his child. In late 1981, baby Sarah Horton was born, and following a custody battle with Evan Whyland, Mickey and Maggie finaly won custody of Sarah. Later Mickey and Maggie also got custody of Melissa Anderson (the daughter of Linda Patterson).

After Mickey was kidnapped by Stefano DiMera after he discovered that he was blackmailing Evan and that he was the mastermind behind Maggie's car accident, in 1983, Mickey escaped the DiMera island and arrived back in Salem to find that Maggie was now having an affair with Don Craig. Mickey took things in and in shock had a heart attack which he later recovered from. Maggie and Mickey divorced that year but Maggie soon relized that she was still in love with Mickey. Mickey was shot in a gang rumble and recovered at Maggie's house, they later remarried in 1986.

Recent Years

In 1988 Mickey ran for a seat in the Senate, and his rival was non other than Jack Deveraux. Jack was going out with Mickey's adoptive daughter Melissa, and even proposed to her. However Melissa learned Jack was using her, and and got rid of him.

Maggie and Mickey's marriage had hit rock bottom by 1990. Mickey was always at work and always disappointed Maggie and missed romantic meals with her. Maggie ended up in the arms of Neil Curtis. Maggie's daughter, Sarah, caught Maggie and Neil in the act and took photos of them together in bed for evidence. Sarah was ready to tell mickey and reveal their secret, when Maggie and Neil revealed that Neil was Sarah's true father. Sarah still exposed them and the news destroyed Mickey. Though Mickey was frustrated and greatly hurt, he felt he was the reason for Maggie's affair. Mickey and Maggie repaired their marriage and Neil left Salem.

Mickey was usually seen whenever a Salem character had legal problems and needed an attorney. In 2003, Mickey was absolutely heart broken when he and Maggie were attacked in their home by the Salem Stalker, Mickey got stabbed with a scalpel but unfortunately Maggie was killed due to a blow to head from a wine bottle. A few months onward, a confused Mickey was eventually released from his sorrow by Bonnie Lockhart, whom he married soon after, not before learning Maggie had not really died buther death had been faked and she had been kidnapped and trapped by the DiMera's like the other Salem stalker victims, in a plot to get rid of Salem's best loved residents. Mickey was torn, because although Maggie was back, he was legally married to Bonnie since his marriage to Maggie was deemed invalid by her apparent death. After months of going back and forth between the two women, Mickey finally picked his original love, Maggie.

The Present

After John Ingle left Days in 2006, Mickey remains off-screen and is still mentioned of, he still lives in Salem and is still married to Maggie. John Clarke was advised by his physisian to take time off and relax due to health concerns, to this day, Clarke is apparently not well enough to return to Days.

Mickey was played from November 1965 to January 2004 by actor John Clarke, briefly in 2004 by Richard Voigt, and was played by actor John Ingle from February 18, 2004 until April 14, 2006.