- Had to add the "T" as a middle initial to avoid confusion with actor, Craig Richard Nelson, who had registered his name first with the Screen Actors Guild.
- Was offered the role of "Jay Pritchett" for the pilot of Modern Family (2009), but turned it down.
- Began his career as a comedian before starting his acting career in 1971.
- As of 2018, has three children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
- Is a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.
- Formed a comedy team with Barry Levinson and Rudy De Luca early in his career.
- Has a very interesting birth date. 4/4/44.
- Wanted to be a hydroplane racer before he became an actor. His dad doubted this and said it would be an impossible feat, like becoming an actor.
- Loves race car driving.
- Former radio performer and stand-up comic.
- A golf enthusiast and member at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, CA.
- Did some Shedd's Spread Country Crock margarine commercials, when not filming Coach (1989), for screen work. (April 1991)
- Attended University of Arizona.
- Was an early member of The Groundlings improv comedy troupe.
- His paternal grandfather was of Norwegian descent, and his maternal grandfather was of German ancestry. His other roots are English, Scots-Irish (Northern Irish), and more distant Dutch.
- Attended Central Washington University.
- He has great talent for playing unpleasant characters, as in "Silkwood" or "The Killing Fields.".
- Father of Noah Nelson.
- Ex-father-in-law of Ashley Jones, who plays "Bridget Forrester" on The Bold and the Beautiful (1987).
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