Doug Sheehan, actor in General Hospital and Knots Landing, dies aged 75

A Wyoming funeral home said he had passed away ‘peacefully’, with ‘his loving wife at his side’

Actor Doug Sheehan in a promotional pic for ‘General Hospital’ (Disney/Getty)

Doug Sheehan, the veteran soap actor known for his roles on General Hospital and Knots Landing, has died at the age of 75.

The Kane Funeral Home in Sheridan County, Wyoming posted a short obituary saying that Sheehan had “passed away peacefully at his home” in nearby Big Horn on June 29.

The funeral home did not specify the cause of death, but said he had departed "with his loving wife at his side".

Douglas Sheehan was born in April 1949 in Santa Monica, California, getting his start as a stage actor with the National Shakespeare Festival in San Diego.

His first TV appearance was in 1978 in Charlie’s Angels, and his breakout role was that of private investigator Joe Kelly on the long-running ABC daytime drama General Hospital between 1979 and 1982.

Later, he starred in the CBS soap Knots Landing as reporter Ben Gibson and in ABC sitcom Day by Day as stockbroker turned daycare operator Brian Harper.

He also played Cher Horowitz’s father Mel in the TV spin-off version of Clueless, and made a guest appearance in Cheers as a handsome but annoying suitor who bores Diane Chambers and her colleagues by incessantly counting the number of words in every sentence anyone speaks.

The funeral home said he was a US military veteran, although did not say which branch. According to the online encyclopedia aggregator Encyclopedia.com, he served in the US Army.