[3] His stage experience there led to a drama scholarship, a year-and-a-half of study at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included fellow actors Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach, and Tony Randall.

[4][5] During World War II, Tobey joined the United States Army Air Forces, serving in the Pacific as a rear gunner aboard a B-25 bomber.

In the 1949 film Twelve O' Clock High, he is the negligent airbase sentry who is dressed down by General Frank Savage (played by Gregory Peck).

Tobey's performance in Hawks' film garnered the actor other parts in science-fiction movies in the 1950s, usually reprising his role as a military officer, such as in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955).

[7] In that film, Tobey, with his naturally red hair on display in vibrant Metrocolor, portrays a highly competitive United States Army Air Service officer.

In one memorable scene, he has the distinction of shoving a piece of gooey cake into John Wayne's face, whose character is a rival United States Navy aviation officer.

[8][9] Tobey appeared in the 1952 episode "Counterfeit Plates" on the CBS series Biff Baker, U.S.A., an espionage drama starring Alan Hale Jr.

In 1955, he also portrayed legendary frontiersman Jim Bowie on ABC's Davy Crockett, a Walt Disney production, with Fess Parker in the title role.

In 1960, he guest-starred in the episode "West of Boston" of another NBC Western series, Overland Trail, starring William Bendix and Doug McClure.

[10] Tobey in 1962 also guest-starred on another Western series, Lawman, playing the character Duncan Clooney, an engineer who seeks to move a shipment of nitroglycerin through Laramie, Wyoming.

He became a semiregular on the NBC drama series I Spy as the field boss of agents Robinson and Scott, played by Robert Culp and comedian Bill Cosby.

In 1964, he began a long run on Broadway opposite Sammy Davis Jr., in the musical version of Clifford Odets' play Golden Boy.

[13] As his long career drew to a close, Tobey still received acting jobs from people who had grown up watching his performances in sci-fi films of the 1950s, particularly Joe Dante, who included the veteran actor in his stock company of reliable players.

One of those notable roles is his performance in the 1994 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Shadowplay" as Rurigan, an alien who recreates his dead friends as holograms.