He began his career in entertainment as a child actor on radio, television and film,[1] including one of the kids in Ma and Pa Kettle (1949) and two of its followups.
He returned to acting after having served in the United States military during the Korean War, appearing in B movies, including Paramount Pictures' The Party Crashers (1958), as well as Earth vs. the Spider (1958) and Bloodlust!
[1] In 1964 their daughter Kaitlin was born, He began producing plays in New York City and Los Angeles in which Knight held a starring position.
[1] Their joint productions included early plays by LeRoi Jones, who is also known as Amiri Baraka, such as The Slave, The Toilet and Dutchman.
Persson also produced the 1973 television special of the original musical, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown for the Hallmark Hall of Fame.
[1] Persson was working on a musical stage version of the 1965 television holiday classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas, at the time of his death in 2008.