Noted for starring roles in blaxploitation films, he was also an original cast member of ABC's soap opera One Life to Live from its premiere in 1968 until he left the show in 1970.

Notable blaxploitation film roles include Sidney Lord Jones in Cool Breeze (1972),[3] Dr. Gordon Thomas in Blacula (1972) and Robert Daniels in Willie Dynamite (1974); he also was the assistant director of The Slams (1973).

On television, he was known as Skeeter Matthews on Sanford and Son, Ned in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, Lt. Jack Neal on One Life to Live, Bill Thomas (Raj and Dee's father) on What's Happening!

He also appeared on Perry Mason, Mannix, The Twilight Zone, All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Tales of Wells Fargo, Good Times, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and The Sophisticated Gents.

His other film roles include Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975), Mr. Ricco (1975), Bucktown (1975), The Last Hard Men (1976), For Us the Living: The Medgar Evers Story (1983), The Boss' Wife (1986), and New Jack City (1991).