With his mother's permission, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps at the age of 17 during World War II,[3][4] serving in British Samoa and the Marshall Islands.

He was the lead actor in This Is Not a Test (1962), a film about a lawman who sets up a roadblock to catch a criminal then hears on the radio that there is going to be a nuclear attack.

leading to his appearances in the films to be reduced with Glass preferring the rewards and financial security of teaching and seaman jobs to the non reliability of an acting career.

His agent, the former actor Hugh French[citation needed] dropped him when Glass's taking a merchant voyage led him to lose a role that was requested by John Wayne, possibly the Sons of Katie Elder.,[5] Glass was the menacing 'First Griner' in John Boorman's film Deliverance (1972).

This provided a few quiet hours to continue writing his books and a regular column for the Santa Monica Independent newspaper.