Ed Nelson, 85, you've seen him a million times

[Bob Of Burleson]

Ed Nelson, a Star of ‘Peyton Place,’ Dies at 85

By WILLIAM McDONALD

The New York Times

Ed Nelson, a prolific actor who became a familiar face to American television audiences over 40 years, notably as a star of the prime-time soap opera “Peyton Place,” died on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. He was 85.

Asta Hansen, a daughter-in-law, confirmed the death.

Handsome at six feet tall, Mr. Nelson had a prominent role on “Peyton Place” as Michael Rossi, a New York doctor who sets up practice in the fictional town of the show’s title and is quickly caught up in its romantic intrigues. The show, which ran from 1964 to 1969 on ABC, was widely regarded as the first prime-time soap opera, though it was filmed rather than taped, as most daytime soaps were.

“Peyton Place” was based on the 1956 novel of the same title by Grace Metalious, which was also adapted for a 1957 film with Lana Turner. Besides Mr. Nelson, the TV version featured Dorothy Malone and a young Mia Farrow and Ryan O’Neal.

Mr. Nelson appeared in 436 episodes; at its peak, the show was seen three times a week. He also appeared in a 1977 television movie spinoff, “Murder in Peyton Place.”

Mr. Nelson’s career began in earnest in the mid-1950s, when he appeared in low-budget films like Roger Corman’s “Attack of the Crab Monsters.” He went on to appear in scores of popular television shows, many of them westerns during the genre’s television heyday, among them “Have Gun — Will Travel,” “Bat Masterson,” “Gunsmoke,” “Rawhide” and “The Rifleman.”

His other credits included “The Detectives,” “The Untouchables,” “The Twilight Zone” (in an episode, “Valley of the Shadow,” in which he starred as a reporter who finds himself trapped in a deceptively sleepy town), “The Fugitive,” “The F.B.I.,” “The Rockford Files” and “Quincy, M.E.”

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