He was raised in California, where he worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, before moving to Broadway.

He acted in over 50 radio, movie and TV roles, including various roles in the science fiction radio series X Minus One, playing Tommy Lee Jones's first partner in Men in Black (1997), and a recurring role in the Bret Maverick 1981 television series.

He appeared in Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider (1985) and in 1996 played Big Willy in Frasier.

Hamilton died at his home in the Catskills on December 21, 2004, at age 83.

This article about a United States film and television actor born in the 1920s is a stub.