[2] Comedy became his specialty, and he was known best as Stalag 17's Stanislas "Animal" Kuzawa, a role he created in the original 1951 Broadway production and reprised in the 1953 film adaptation, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

[2] Following his appearance in the latter, Strauss went on to character roles in The Bridges at Toko-Ri and Wake Me When It's Over as well as a number of low-budget films for producers like Albert Zugsmith.

Strauss became familiar to television viewers through his appearances in The Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, The Monkees, and a recurring role on Bewitched as conniving private investigator Charlie Leach, who was one of the few mortals who knew Samantha was a witch.

He played a goldfish-poking bad guy who was a murder victim in the 1959 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Dangerous Dowager."

[citation needed] Strauss was incapacitated during the final years of his life from the effects of multiple bouts of electroshock therapy applied to combat depression.