[4] Goodwin was known for frequently promoting the item sold by the sponsor of the show (Swan Soap or Maxwell House Coffee, among others, on radio; Carnation Evaporated Milk on television).

He was effective on radio in doing "integrated commercials", the first announcer to do so[4] in which the advertisement was deftly woven into the show's storyline.

Not long before his death, Goodwin appeared as Ed Weston in two episodes of the short-lived CBS sitcom, The Eve Arden Show.

He played the role of Sherman Billingsley in The Stork Club (1945) and that of the hotel detective in Hitchcock's Spellbound (also 1945) and appeared with Doris Day in Tea for Two (1950) and It's a Great Feeling (1949).

Goodwin was found dead in his car on May 9, 1958, at the age of 47 after a heart attack in Palm Springs, California.