He is best known for his role as the cowboy Trampas during the entire run from 1962 to 1971 of the series The Virginian and mayor turned police chief Kyle Applegate on Out of This World.

His co-stars throughout the series were James Drury, Roberta Shore, Lee J. Cobb, Randy Boone, Gary Clarke, Clu Gulager, Diane Roter, Charles Bickford, Sara Lane, Tim Matheson, Jeanette Nolan, and John McIntire.

In 1965, he appeared in Shenandoah, a movie directed by Andrew V. McLaglen and starring James Stewart, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, Katharine Ross, and Rosemary Forsyth.

The pilot, produced and written by the team of Richard Levinson and William Link, failed to generate interest in the series and was released as a TV movie titled The Judge and Jake Wyler.

He was cast in the lead in three adventures: The Longest Hundred Miles, The Birdmen, and State of Division (also known as Death Race).

On January 8 of that year, the actor was working on an episode of the television series One West Waikiki in Hawaii when he collapsed from an apparent stroke on the set.