( CNN ) -- Ed Nelson , best known for playing a doctor in the 1960s nighttime soap opera `` Peyton Place , '' has died at 85 , his family said . Nelson , a New Orleans native , died Saturday at his Greensboro , North Carolina , home from congestive heart failure , daughter-in-law Asta Hansen said.Â . Nelson 's acting resume stretches back to 1952 when his job was to play a man waiting in an airport ticket line in a film called `` The Steel Trap . '' His last role was in `` Runaway Jury , '' a 2003 film starring Dustin Hoffman , John Cusack and Gene Hackman . The five decades between those jobs were filled with hundreds of television and movie roles , including several of Roger Corman 's low-budget B movies in the 1950s -- such as `` Swamp Women '' and `` Attack of the Crab Monsters . '' The 1960s brought cowboy roles in hit TV series including `` Rawhide , '' `` Gunsmoke '' and `` Have Gun -- Will Travel . '' Nelson is created with 436 episodes of `` Peyton Place , '' which starred Ryan O'Neal and Barbara Parkins , starting in 1964 . He was Michael Rossi , the town physician . He also appeared in the TV reunion movies for the show . He continued acting mostly on TV , through the 1990s , including playing several characters on `` Murder , She Wrote '' from 1985 to 1995 . Nelson was Gov . Neilson in the 1986 franchise film comedy `` Police Academy 3 : Back in Training . '' 'Another World ' villain Charles Keating dies at 72 . People we 've lost in 2014 . CNN 's Carolyn Sung contributed to this report .
Ed Nelson is credited with 436 episodes of `` Peyton Place '' starting in 1964 . He was in John Cusack B movies `` Swamp Women '' and `` Attack of the Crab Monsters '' John Cusack was Gov . Nelson in the 1986 comedy `` Police Academy 3 : Back in Training '' His last role was in `` Runaway Jury , '' a 2003 film starring Ed Nelson , Ed Nelson .