He was well known for a number of TV roles from the 1960s through the 1980s, including his portrayal of Briscoe Darling in several episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, as Jesse Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard from 1979 to 1985, as Mad Jack in the NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, and as the titular character's father, Buck Webb, in CBS's The Doris Day Show.

Perhaps his most memorable film role was that of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer in the movie Bonnie and Clyde (1967), as the lawman who relentlessly chased down and finally killed the notorious duo in an ambush.

[4][5] After graduating from high school, Pyle briefly attended Colorado State University, but dropped out to enter show business, moving to Los Angeles in 1940.

In 1953, Pyle appeared on The Roy Rogers Show (season two, "Loaded Guns") as the wrongly accused killer, ranch hand Tom Larrabee.

He had a part in the 1955 Audie Murphy film To Hell and Back, and appeared twice on NBC's 1955–1956 Western anthology series Frontier (in "Mother of the Brave" and in "The Voyage of Captain Castle").

Pyle was twice cast on CBS's The Public Defender in the role of George Hansen, and three times on the religious anthology series, Crossroads on ABC.

Pyle appeared twice each on the CBS Western series My Friend Flicka and NBC's The Restless Gun with John Payne.

He was cast as Big Red in the 1959 episode "Woman in the River" of the detective series Bourbon Street Beat, starring Andrew Duggan and Richard Long.

Pyle was cast in a number of Western movies by John Ford, including The Horse Soldiers with William Holden and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

He guest-starred as a law-enforcement officer in Jim Davis' other syndicated series, Rescue 8, and also appeared in an episode of the ABC sitcom, The Real McCoys with Walter Brennan.

Pyle was cast in the 1960 episode "Three Wise Men" of ABC's Stagecoach West as an outlaw who promises to turn himself into the authorities if he can spend Christmas with his family.

Pyle guest-starred twice on the CBS series Route 66 with Martin Milner and George Maharis, first in 1961 in the episode "The Newborn" and again in 1962 in "A Long Piece of Mischief".

He also is known for portraying both the suspect and the murder victim on the last original Perry Mason TV episode, "The Case of the Final Fadeout", in 1966.

He was one of 11 actors to hit the Perry Mason trifecta, portraying a victim, a defendant, and the actual murderer (in previous episodes) on the series, which he did in five appearances.

Working for the first time with Jim Nabors playing Gomer Pyle, spun-off from The Andy Griffith Show, he used a screen persona similar to Briscoe Darling Jr.

In this film, Tony and Tia were played by Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards, Lucas Deranian by Donald Pleasence, and the children's Uncle Bené by Pyle.

Pyle played the titular role in a theatrical film entitled Guardian of the Wilderness (1976) about Galen Clark, the true story of an explorer who persuaded Abraham Lincoln to have the Yosemite area set aside from commercial development, the original forerunner of the American national parks system.

[12] Clark was prompted by his decision to do all he could to preserve the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias from being destroyed by loggers, along with the surrounding land.

Pyle played the role of Mad Jack in 36 episodes of the NBC series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams (1977–1978).