He appeared in at least 189 silent film era motion pictures and 32 talkies in character roles between 1911 and 1931.

Later the family formed The Musical Olivers, a troupe that "played Carthage, Springfield, Joplin, Rolla, and nearly every other town and city in Missouri".

Later the group affiliated with the Southern Carnival Company and traveled across the United States.

[1] After Oliver's mother died, he began acting with the Fennberg Stock Company in New England.

[1] After "an unsuccessful engagement with a stock company in Rome, Georgia," in 1908 he began working for Lubin Studios in Philadelphia, earning $3.00 a day.