[2] Born in Alhambra, California, Vogel began acting at ten, appearing in stage productions of Tom Sawyer, Heidi, Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz.

Vogel made his feature film debut at the age of 12, appearing in the 1968 comedy Yours, Mine and Ours, as one of Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda's brood.

He rose to prominence the following year as Lucius McCaslin in the feature film The Reivers, which earned him a Golden Globe nomination as the Best Supporting Actor of 1969.

[4] Having established himself in feature films, Vogel briefly appeared on an episode of Bonanza broadcast on October 6, 1968, entitled "The Real People of Muddy Creek".

In 2002, Vogel returned to Bonanza's locations for the Travel Channel's TV Road Trip, in which he narrated an account of his visit to the Ponderosa Ranch in Incline Village near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.