[3] After moving to Hollywood, Lester met radio and character actress Lurene Tuttle, who became his friend and acting coach.

[4] In the early 1960s, Lester appeared in a play with CBS producer Paul Henning's daughter Linda Kaye Henning (Betty Jo Bradley of Petticoat Junction), and Lester soon found himself auditioning for the role of Eb Dawson, farmhand to Oliver Wendell Douglas (played by Eddie Albert) on Green Acres.

Even during the height of Green Acres' popularity, Lester lived modestly in a small apartment over a garage in the San Fernando Valley.

Each year during the show's summer hiatus he would travel the country and speak at churches, youth rallies and revival meetings and at one time worked for the Reverend Billy Graham's organization.

During the mid-1970s to early 1980s, his roles included guest spots in Little House on the Prairie, Marcus Welby, M.D., Knight Rider and Love, American Style.

In 1991, he played the adult Pete Maravich in the film about the future basketball hall-of-famer's youth, The Pistol: The Birth of a Legend.

In 2004, he was the voice of the unseen DJ for radio station KCOW in the movie Christmas Child (starring William R. Moses and Steven Curtis Chapman).

[11][12] With the death of Mary Grace Canfield, who portrayed Ralph Monroe, on February 15, 2014, Lester was the last surviving regular cast member of Green Acres.

On May 26, 2005, Albert died of complications from Alzheimer's disease and Lester was the only surviving Green Acres star who did not attend the funeral.