Born in London, England, he began his acting career on the stage in the 1930s as one of the Harry Hanson's Court Players at the Peterborough Repertory.

Post-war, he performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, London, for some four years, during the West End runs of Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific and The King and I. Harvey's film debut was in the role as Eddie in the British crime drama A Gunman Has Escaped (1948), in which he was the leading star.

[3] Harvey then moved to character roles and five films later played Inspector Loomis in Hitchcock's Stage Fright (1950) starring Jane Wyman and Richard Todd.

[6] He played Buster Cox in the United Artists film noir crime/thriller The Man with My Face (1951) starring Barry Nelson.

[7] Among his guest appearances on series television was his role as Sir William Duffy in Dr. Finlay's Casebook (1962) and two Doctor Who appearances – Professor Brett in The War Machines (1966), and Officia in The Macra Terror (1967), all for the BBC.