He had his first role which was small and unbilled at the age of eight in the Western Colorado Territory (1949) with Joel McCrea, Virginia Mayo and Dorothy Malone. His credited debut was in Thunder Road (1958) in which he played his father's much younger "brother", a role written for Elvis Presley, who was eager to do it until his manager demanded too much money. This film became a drive-in cult favorite, revived in the 1970s and '80s. Curiously, he was again credited as being "introduced" in the Have Gun Will Travel episode "Genesis" (1962).
He has appeared in more than 30 films including The Beat Generation in 1959; The Victors in 1963; as a Surfer named Eskimo in Ride the Wild Surf in 1964; In Harm's Way (1965); Ambush Bay (1966); The Invincible Six (1970) and The Last Movie (1971).
In 1975 he starred in the movie Moonrunners, where he played the character Grady Hagg, this movie was the influence for the T.V. show The Dukes of Hazzard. He was also in Zebra Force, and Trackdown co-starring Karen Lamm and Erik Estrada in 1976, Ransom (aka Assault on Paradise) (1977), Blackout (1978), Monstroid (1980), Crazy Jungle Adventure (1982), Hollywood Cop (1987), Jake Spanner, Private Eye (1989) and Fatal Mission (1990).
