Editing Ed Nelson (section)

==''Peyton Place'' and later roles==
In 1964, Nelson secured his most famous role, portraying Dr. Michael Rossi on the drama ''Peyton Place'', staying with the series during its entire run from 1964 to 1969. Nelson reprised his role in two TV movies: ''[[Murder in Peyton Place]]'' and ''[[Peyton Place: The Next Generation]]''.

After ''Peyton Place'', Nelson worked in many more productions of all varieties. He teamed with former ''Peyton Place'' co-star [[Percy Rodriguez]] in the television series ''[[The Silent Force (TV series)|The Silent Force]]'', which ran for 15 episodes in 1970–1971. He guest-starred with [[David Janssen]] in ''[[The Fugitive (1963 TV series)|The Fugitive]]'' in 1963, and appeared as a different character later in the series. Subsequently, Nelson had guest-starring roles on many of the popular dramas of the 1970s and 1980s, including ''[[Marcus Welby, M.D.]]'', ''[[Laramie (TV series)|Laramie]]'', ''[[Cannon (TV series)|Cannon]]'', ''[[O'Hara, U.S. Treasury]]'', ''[[Night Gallery]]'', ''[[Banacek]]'', ''[[Alias Smith and Jones]]'', ''[[Mod Squad]]'', ''[[Mission: Impossible (1966 TV series)|Mission: Impossible]]'', ''[[The Streets of San Francisco]]'', ''[[Kung Fu (1972 TV series)|Kung Fu]]'', ''[[The F.B.I. (TV series)|The F.B.I.]]'' (in 3 different roles), ''[[Adam-12]]'', ''[[Ironside (1967 TV series)|Ironside]]'', ''[[Police Woman (TV series)|Police Woman]]'', '' [[Medical Center (TV series)|Medical Center]]'' (3 roles), ''[[The Bionic Woman]]'', ''[[Gibbsville (TV series)|Gibbsville]]'', ''[[McMillan and Wife]]'', ''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'', ''[[The Rockford Files]]'' (2 roles), ''[[Barnaby Jones]]'' (2 roles), ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'', ''[[Lou Grant (TV series)|Lou Grant]]'', ''[[Trapper John, M.D.]]'', ''[[Vega$]]'' (2 roles), ''[[CHiPs]]'', ''[[Quincy M.E.]]'', ''[[Matt Houston]]'', ''[[The Fall Guy]]'', ''[[Dynasty (1981 TV series)|Dynasty]]'', ''[[Cagney & Lacey]]'', ''[[MacGyver (1985 TV series)|MacGyver]]'', ''[[Jake and the Fatman]]'' (2 roles), and ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]'' (5 roles).

Nelson appeared in many television movies such as ''Along Came a Spider'' (1970), ''[[The Screaming Woman]]'' (1972), ''[[Runaway! (1973 film)|Runaway!]]'' (1973), ''[[Houston, We've Got a Problem]]'' (1974), ''The Missing Are Deadly'' (1975), ''[[Superdome (film)|Superdome]]'' (1978), ''[[Doctors' Private Lives]]'' (1978) and ''[[Crash (1978 film)|Crash]]'' (1978), and served as host on the morning talk show ''The Ed Nelson Show'', which he hosted for three years. During the 1980s, Nelson took on the role of patriarchal Senator Mark Denning in the daytime serial ''[[Capitol (TV series)|Capitol]]''. In late 1986, Nelson was upset to discover that the show's writers had turned his character into a traitor, and quit the show in disgust, last airing in early January 1987, two months before the show's cancellation.{{Citation needed |date=March 2022}}

He also continued appearing in theatrical films, such as ''[[Airport 1975]]'' (1974), ''[[That's the Way of the World (film)|That's the Way of the World]]'' (1975), ''[[Acapulco Gold (1976 film)|Acapulco Gold]]'' (1976), ''[[Midway (1976 film)|Midway]]'' (1976), ''[[For the Love of Benji]]'' (1977), ''[[Police Academy 3: Back in Training]]'' (1986), ''[[Brenda Starr (1989 film)|Brenda Starr]]'' (1989), ''[[The Boneyard]]'' (1991), ''[[Who Am I? (1998 film)|Who Am I?]]'' (1998) and ''[[Runaway Jury]]'' (2003).

He spent several years playing U.S. President [[Harry S. Truman]] on stage, replacing [[James Whitmore]] for the National Tour of ''Give 'Em Hell, Harry''.<ref name="nola">{{cite news| last1=Simmons| first1=David Lee| title=Ed Nelson, TV and film actor from New Orleans, dies at age 85| url=http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2014/08/ed_nelson_tv_and_film_actor_fr.html| access-date=24 November 2017| newspaper=[[The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate|The Times-Picayune]]| location=New Orleans| date=August 12, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124032637/http://www.nola.com/movies/index.ssf/2014/08/ed_nelson_tv_and_film_actor_fr.html| archive-date=24 November 2017}}</ref>