After that, he played lawyer Joe Kelly on General Hospital all the time.
He was in a crazy 205 episodes from 1979 to 1982, so “regular” might not be the right word.
The actor was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role in a Daytime Drama Series for this part.
As time went on, he got many more TV roles, including one on CBS’s Dallas spinoff Knots Landing.
He played reporter Ben Gibson on the show from 1983 to 1988. When his character went to South America in Season 8, he left the show.

Doug talked about TV fame and how hard it can be to break into the mainstream on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show in 1989.
No one in Hollywood is in charge of making movies; casting directors are in charge. People who do casting never look at what you’re doing…In the daytime, at night, and on the half-hour, I’ve spent my whole time breaking down walls. They aren’t sure if I can do funny shows for an hour yet, so I need to make a name for myself.
Doug’s acting career mostly took off on TV; he never quite made it to the big screen with a movie role.
Three movies with big screens showed him: 10 in 1979, Victor/Victoria in 1982, and Cops n Roberts in 1995.
In the 1990s, he played Cher’s dad in the TV show Clueless, which was based on the famous movie of the same name.

He was also the lead in the NBC comedy Day by Day as Gary David Goldberg from 1988 to 1989. He also had small roles on Cheers, Columbo, MacGyver, and Diagnosis Murder.
His last movie roles were in What I Like About You and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, where he played Sabrina’s (Melissa Joan Hart) dad.
Before he died, Doug was married to Cate Abert. They did not have any children together.