[6] In December 1952, Avalon made his American network television debut playing the trumpet in the Honeymooners "Christmas Party" sketch on The Jackie Gleason Show.

In the late 1950s, teen idols were often given roles in films, supporting older male stars in order to attract a younger audience, such as Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo (1959).

Alan Ladd's daughter was a Frankie Avalon fan, who recommended that he co-star with her father in the Western Guns of the Timberland (1960).

[13] Rushes for Timberland were seen by John Wayne, who was looking for a young actor to play the (fictitious) role of "Smitty" in his passion project, The Alamo (1960).

He provided the singing voice for the lead character in the English-language version of a Japanese musical anime, Alakazam the Great (1960), which was done at the behest of the US distributor, American International Pictures.

For Irwin Allen, Avalon had a small role and sang the title song in the science fiction adventure film, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961), a solid commercial hit.

Samuel Z. Arkoff of American International Pictures (AIP) said Avalon and Milland were teamed together because "they both have particular types of followers and the combination adds up to an attraction".

[18] For AIP, Avalon made a war film with Tab Hunter, Operation Bikini (1963), singing a few songs in flashback.

Arkoff said AIP originally wanted Fabian Forte to co-star with Funicello, but when he proved unavailable, they went with Avalon; it was a big hit and led to several sequels.

Filmink wrote "Avalon’s warm persona and slightly cartoonish vibe were ideal for the beach party movies, with their in-jokes, double-takes, songs and silliness.

"[12] Avalon received an offer to appear in a swashbuckler set in 10th century Spain about Fernán González of Castile, The Castilian (1963).

[19] Pajama Party (1964) was the unofficial fourth film in the series; it was a science fiction spoof in which Avalon ceded the leading man duties to Tommy Kirk, retaining a cameo.

Avalon and Tuesday Weld supported Bob Hope in the comedy film, I'll Take Sweden (1965) for Edward Small.

According to Filmink AIP gave "Avalon three terrific non-beach chances in 1965 – the studio really looked after him with a series of roles that were utterly perfect for the singer.

"[23] AIP tried to find a new starring formula for Avalon, casting him as a stock car driver in Fireball 500 (1966), alongside Fabian and Funicello, for director William Asher.

Materializing as a character called Teen Angel, his performance of "Beauty School Dropout" in the hit 1978 film of the musical Grease introduced Avalon to a new generation of viewers.

[3] Frankie Valli, who had turned the role down in favor of singing the theme song, noted that both he and Avalon earned substantial profits and a boost in their careers from their work on the film.

[24] In early 1979, Avalon portrayed Sergei in the episode "Dewey and Harold and Sarah and Maggie" of the NBC television series $weepstake$.

The real Fabian threatened a lawsuit, despite the filmmakers' insistence that the film presented only fictional characters (though Marcucci was a paid consultant).

[citation needed] Avalon also appeared in the Happy Days episode "Poobah Doo Dah" playing himself where he sings his hits "Venus" and "Why".

[3] Avalon has starred in stage productions of Grease in the role of Teen Angel and in Tony n' Tina's Wedding as a caricature of himself.

Additionally, in 2007, he performed "Beauty School Dropout" with the four remaining female contenders (Kathleen Monteleone, Allie Schulz, Ashley Spencer, and winner Laura Osnes) for the role of Sandy on the NBC television reality show Grease: You're the One that I Want!.

One of numerous obscure cultural references present in Midway's video game Mortal Kombat 3 was a lo-res image of Frankie Avalon's face that would dart up in the lower right-hand corner of the screen when Goro killed his opponent by knocking him into the spike pit on the Bridge level.

His song "Venus" was featured in Cranium Command (1989–2005), an attraction at Epcot's Wonders of Life Pavilion (now closed) at Walt Disney World.

His song "Venus" additionally appeared in season 4 of the TV series Dexter in which John Lithgow's character, Arthur Mitchell, plays it to remember his deceased sister.