[3] and grew up in nearby North Quincy, graduating from high school in 1949, after which he joined the United States Army.

[4] After his release from a hospital in Japan he was assigned to Kyoto, where he booked talent and wrote skits for the NCOs and Officers Club.

After his discharge, in 1952, he went to California, where he attended El Camino Junior College and was elected Student Body President for two terms.

These included Deputy Johnny Evans in the syndicated western series Two Faces West (1960–61), starring Charles Bateman, the part of Brad Carter, prosecuting attorney in The Virginian while Lee J. Cobb was in the cast.

[12] His comedy scene as a drunken GI earned rave reviews in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, leading to his being signed by 20th Century Fox for the role of Pvt.

At Fox, he appeared in several films: In Love and War with Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner; A Private's Affair with Ernie Kovacs; and was lent out to Warner Bros. for the role of "Jenkins" in the Michael Garrison production of The Dark at the Top of the Stairs with Robert Preston and Dorothy McGuire.