He is best remembered for his portrayal of Scott Carey in the science fiction film The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), and for his starring role as Greg MacKenzie on Hawaiian Eye from 1960 through 1963.

[3] He was discharged as an Air Force staff sergeant[3] He went on to obtain a degree in journalism, from New York University according to a Dallas Morning News profile in March 1957.

[6] During auditions held at the Town Hall Club in New York City in May 1953, Williams was selected for a summer scholarship at the Barter Theatre by Rosalind Russell.

It was a popular choice for many recently discharged veterans, such as John Vivyan and Ernest Borgnine, who found the communal lifestyle a comfortable buffer before rejoining the civilian world.

According to contemporaneous Barter publicity, he had at least five previous stage credits in Golden Boy, Angel Street, The Heiress, All My Sons, and The Glass Menagerie, but for which the roles and venues are not known.

[12] Pleased with his work on that picture, U-I gave him a role as a "heavy" in Decision at Durango, later renamed Red Sundown, during July 1955.

[13] U-I then gave Williams a new contract in August,[14] and by September 1955 he was working on Gun Shy, later released as Showdown at Abilene.

Universal Pictures dropped his contract in 1959,[18] and he signed in 1960 with Warner Brothers, where he had a continuing role as the private detective Greg McKenzie on Hawaiian Eye, co-starring Robert Conrad, Anthony Eisley, and Connie Stevens.

"[20] He starred as troubled military psychologist Major Douglas McKinnon in The Outer Limits episode "The Brain of Colonel Barham" along with former Hawaiian Eye co-star Anthony Eisley.

[6] Williams died on July 28, 1985, aged 53, at the Los Angeles Veterans Administration Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for blood poisoning.