Later in 1950 he travelled to the United States to appear in a film adaptation of Bonaventure for Universal Pictures, which was released in 1951 as Thunder on the Hill, starring Claudette Colbert and Ann Blyth.

live production of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, in which Pate played the role of "Clarence Leiter", opposite Barry Nelson's "Jimmy Bond".

During his time in the United States, Pate became an acting instructor and lecturer, and wrote many screenplays and plays for American films and television series, including Rawhide ("Incident of the Power and the Plow" with Dick Van Patten) and Most Dangerous Man Alive ("The Steel Monster").

[3] After that project he returned to the United States for another eight years, during which time he enjoyed a successful career as a television character actor, appearing repeatedly on programs such as Gunsmoke, Sugarfoot, The Texan, The Rifleman, Maverick (S4 Ep23),Branded ("Call to Glory"), Daniel Boone, The Virginian, Perry Mason ("The Case of the Skeleton's Closet" and "The Case of the Wednesday Woman"), Batman (episodes 45 "The Clock King's Crazy Crimes" and 46 "The Clock King Gets Crowned"), Mission: Impossible ("Trek"), The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

In the 1963 movie PT 109, he played the part of Arthur Reginald Evans, the Australian coast watcher who helped rescue John F. Kennedy and his crew.

That role was of the few occasions when Pate played an Australian while working in the United States, others including Four Star Playhouse ("The Firing Squad"), 77 Sunset Strip ("The Down-Under Caper"), and Rawhide ("Incident of the Boomerang", for which he also wrote the story-line).

[6] His film appearances in the 1970s and 1980s included Mad Dog Morgan (1976), introduction in the biopic The Battle of Broken Hill (1981), Duet for Four (1982), The Wild Duck (1984), Death of a Soldier (1986), and Howling III (1987).

During the early 1980s Pate also collaborated with his son Christopher in a successful stage production of Mass Appeal at the Sydney Opera House.

[citation needed] Although Michael Pate retired from acting in 2001, he remained busy with voiceover work; and he was writing a screenplay at the time of his death.