At first he was billed as Stephen Richards, assigned to small, often uncredited parts in which he played servicemen in films such as Destination Tokyo (1943), Passage to Marseille (1944), The Doughgirls (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Objective, Burma!

At Fox, Stevens appeared in The Dark Corner (1946) with Lucille Ball and Clifton Webb, a film noir that attempted to repeat the success of Laura (1944).

Stevens appeared in the Western Sand (1949) and another musical biopic with Haver, Oh, You Beautiful Doll (1949), playing Fred Fisher.

Stevens next signed a contract at Universal and appeared in Target Unknown (1951), Katie Did It (1951), Little Egypt (1951) and Reunion in Reno (1951).

From 1954 to 1956, Stevens played a newspaper managing editor in the series Big Town, having replaced Patrick McVey, who starred in the role from 1950 to 1954.

Reruns of Big Town began airing on DuMont under the title City Assignment while new episodes of the series were still appearing on CBS.