After moving to Cleveland, Ohio, White began a career in vaudeville and burlesque, traveling widely before landing a role on Broadway.

In 1942, White made his Broadway debut in The Moon Is Down, followed by a successful performance in the role of a sanitarium orderly in the popular play Harvey.

During the 1950s, he began landing roles on television shows, including appearances in Danny Thomas's Make Room for Daddy and Peter Lawford's Dear Phoebe.

He appeared in roles in The Bad Seed (1956); Designing Woman (1957), with Lauren Bacall; CBS's Mr. Adams and Eve (1958), with Ida Lupino and Howard Duff;[6] and Marjorie Morningstar (1958), with Natalie Wood and Gene Kelly.

On October 2, 1958, White portrayed the fast-talking, presumably dishonest, used-car salesman San Fernando Harry in the segment "The New Car" of the ABC sitcom The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan.

The campaign proved wildly successful, and the actor began a long-running and highly paid career as the ever-lonely Maytag repairman.