[1][2][3] Heggie appeared in local amateur dramatic companies before leaving his clerk position with the Union Bank, to pursue a career in acting and make his debut in Stolen Kisses in 1899 at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide.

He later took the part of the messenger in the same play at the Bijou, Melbourne, and in the production that toured Australia and New Zealand under Walter Hawtrey.

She hired him in January 1907 for her tour of America with Nance Oldfield (as Alexander Oldworthy) and Captain Brassbound's Conversion (Osman).

Transferring to Broadway, he appeared in 1915 in the Man Who Married A Dumb Wife opposite Lillah McCarthy in its first presentation on an English speaking stage, reprised his role in Androcles, as Peter Quince in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma.

Other Broadway appearances included Spellbound and Out of the Sea in 1927, The Beaux Stratagem in 1928, They Don't Mean Any Harm, and a revival of The Truth About Blayds in 1932.

Heggie appeared in at least 27 films, including The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Letter, The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu, The Mighty, The Wheel of Life, The Bad Man, The Swan, Too Young to Marry, One Romantic Night, East Lynne (1931), Playboy of Paris, Sunny, Madame Jule, Devotion, Peck's Bad Boy, Ginger, and Smilin' Through between 1928 and his death in 1936.