He is best known for his work in such acclaimed films as 12 Angry Men (1957), North by Northwest (1959), Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Fail Safe (1964), The Americanization of Emily (1964), Patton (1970) and The Verdict (1982).

[4] Binns's theatrical career began shortly after his 1937 college graduation, when he participated in a repertory theatre in Cleveland.

[4] One of the first members of the newly formed Actors Studio, Binns began studying with Elia Kazan in late 1947.

6 in Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men (1957) and Lieutenant General Walter Bedell Smith in the Academy Award-winning film Patton (1970) starring George C. Scott.

Binns was featured as a police detective in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) and played a key role as bomber pilot Colonel Grady in Fail-Safe (1964).

He was cast in CBS's Richard Diamond, Private Detective (as Larrabee in the 1958 episode "Pension Plan"), The Investigators and Thriller.

He portrayed a marine biologist obsessed with a whale in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode "The Ghost of Moby Dick".