'Peyton Place' and 'Capitol' Actor Ed Nelson Dead at 85

Ed Nelson in 1987.

Former Peyton Place and Capitol actor Ed Nelson died on Saturday in Greensboro, North Carolina, at age 85.

Edwin Stafford Nelson was born on December 21, 1928, in New Orleans. He attended Tulane University there but left after two years to study acting in New York City. He returned to New Orleans to work in local television before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He served in the Navy as a radioman on the light cruiser Dayton. Years later, in 1972, completed his college degree at Tulane.

Nelson's career began to take off 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 including Have Gun — Will Travel, Gunsmoke, Dallas, The Untouchables, The Twilight Zone, The Rockford Files and