He achieved worldwide attention when he was seen as the Nazi Herr Zeller in The Sound of Music (1965), and he had small roles in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), My Fair Lady (1964), and Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie (1966).

On television, he was a guest star on such series as My Three Sons, Hogan's Heroes (as various Nazi officers), McHale's Navy, Combat!, Get Smart, Bonanza, Gunsmoke (in a recurring role as billiard parlor owner “Dan Binney”, later as town barber “Birger Engdohl”, as Sgt.

Ross” in “Father’s Love” and finally as a dishonest land claim agent in “Two of a Kind” (S8E27), The Wild Wild West, The Twilight Zone, Mr. Adams and Eve, The Tab Hunter Show, Straightaway, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, It Takes a Thief, Mission: Impossible, as Mr. Rudolpho on the final episode of the 1964 series The Addams Family, and The Rockford Files.

Wright played Governor José María de Echeandía in the 1960 episode "Forbidden Wedding" of the syndicated anthology series Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.

In 1971 Wright appeared as the desk clerk on "The Men From Shiloh" (rebranded name of the TV western The Virginian) in the episode titled "The Town Killer."