Campanella was widely known for his roles as Joe Turino on Guiding Light from 1959 to 1962, Lew Wickersham on the detective series Mannix from 1967 to 1968, Brian Darrell on the legal drama The Bold Ones: The Lawyers from 1969 to 1972, Harper Deveraux on the soap opera Days of Our Lives from 1987 to 1992, co-host of Science International from 1976 to 1979, and his recurring role as Jonathan Young on The Bold and the Beautiful from 1996 to 2005.

[6] Campanella served in the United States Navy during World War II[7][8] as a landing craft commander.

[11] Campanella appeared in such television shows as Combat!, Decoy, The Eleventh Hour, The Doctors, The Fugitive, Mission: Impossible, Marcus Welby, M.D., Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Alias Smith and Jones, A Man Called Ironside (pilot), The Untouchables, Police Story, The Road West, The Invaders, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Rockford Files, The Golden Girls, Mama's Family, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and Baywatch.

[6][12][13][14][15] Campanella had a recurring role from 1959 to 1962 as a criminal named Joe Turino on the long-running CBS daytime drama Guiding Light.

[16] He played Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Captain Monty Ballard in the crime drama television film Sky Hei$t in 1975.

[17] Campanella played Ann Romano's (Bonnie Franklin) ex-husband, Ed Cooper, in eight episodes of One Day at a Time (1975–1984) and Barbara Stanwyck's love interest in the first season (1985–1986) of Aaron Spelling's short-lived Dynasty spinoff, The Colbys.

[13] In February 1962, he was cast in A Gift of Time with film stars Henry Fonda and Olivia de Havilland.

[26] Throughout his career, Campanella was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his work in A Gift of Time in 1962.

[1] In 1968, he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Wickersham in Mannix.

[1] In 1989, Campanella was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Deveraux in Days of Our Lives.

[1] Campanella met his wife, Kathryn Jill Bartholomew, a singer and dancer, in 1963 while he was playing the leading man in Hot Spot on Broadway.