An actor who started on the stage, performing in "Twelfth Night" and "Troilus and Cressida" as part of the Old Globe National Shakespeare Festival in San Diego, Doug Sheehan is best known for his work on television. He began his small screen career on ABC's popular daytime drama "General Hospital" as Joe Kelly. Handsome and dynamic, with dark, wavy-hair, this actor was very popular with viewers and won two SOAP OPERA DIGEST Readers' Poll Awards during his three-year (1979-82) stint as the likable lawyer. He followed this successful run with another long engagement, this time on CBS' "Knots Landing". From 1983 to 1987, Sheehan starred on the long-running primetime drama as Ben Gibson, a schemer with a secret past determined to make good, who married the troubled Valene (Joan Van Ark) and was briefly involved with singer Cathy (Lisa Hartman). The year after Ben Gibson made his dramatic "Knots Landing" disappearance, the actor could be seen on a new NBC series "Day by Day" (1988-1989) playing Brian Harper, a stockbroker who along with his lawyer wife Kate (Linda Kelsey) leave their professions and open a day care center in their home upon the arrival of their second child. He followed this up with a regular role on the UPN sitcom "Clueless" from 1997-99, playing high-powered attorney Mel, Cher's father and one of her many pet projects.While his big screen work is limited to a small part in 1979's "10", Sheehan has starred in many TV-movies between his series roles, including performances as the new love of a woman whose head trauma renders her unable to remember anything from her life before the accident, including her husband and family, in the fact-based drama "Stranger in My Bed" (NBC, 1987); an FBI commander in the true crime TV movie "In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders" (NBC, 1988); a doomed pilot whose wife seeks to uncover the truth of the crash that took his life in the disaster drama "Crash: The Mystery of Flight 1501" (NBC, 1990); a single father who gets hooked up with mannequin turned would-be stepmom Olivia Newton-John in the holiday fantasy "A Mom for Christmas" (NBC, 1990); and a suspect in the 1993 ABC mystery "Columbo: It's All in the Game". Additionally, he has made notable guest appearances in series such as "Cheers" (NBC), "Dear John" (NBC), "MacGyver" (ABC), "Promised Land" (CBS) and "Style & Substance" (CBS).
Profession(s):
Actor
Sometimes Credited As:
Douglas Sheehan
Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role on a Prime Time Serial "Knots Landing" 1986
Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding New Actor in a Prime Time Soap Opera "Knots Landing" 1984
1999 Played the young witch's father on "Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" (ABC)
1998 Guest starred on the short lived comedy "Style & Substance" (CBS)
1997 Guest starred on an episode of the family drama "Promised Land" (CBS)
1997 Took over the role of Cher's father Mel on the UPN series "Clueless"
1993 Starred in the ABC mystery movie "Columbo: It's All in the Game"
1990 Starred in the NBC movies "Crash: The Mystery of Flight 1501" and "A Mom For Christmas"
1990 Guest starred on the series "Dear John" and "MacGyver"
1988 Played FBI Commander Gordon McNeill in the NBC true crime movie "In the Line of Duty: The FBI Murders"
1987 Starred as the new love interest of an amnesiac played by Lindsay Wagner in the NBC TV-movie "Stranger in My Bed"
1979 Debut film appearance in Blake Edwards' "10"
Member of National Shakespeare Festival at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre, performing in plays including "Troilus and Cressida" and "Twelfth Night"
Was a regular on ABC's daytime drama "General Hospital", playing lawyer Joe Kelly
Guest starred on the first season on the popular NBC comedy "Cheers"
Played Ben Gibson on "Knots Landing" (CBS)
Starred on the NBC sitcom "Day by Day" as Brian Harper, a stockbroker married to a lawyer who both give up their careers to run a day care center in their home
