He performed and toured in a one-man show he wrote based on the Doc
Baker character called, "A Playful Dose of Prairie Wisdom." While
performing that show he met his fourth wife, Jan. They were married in
1993.
Did not start acting until he was 27, by which time he had worked for
the U.S. State Department in Germany, earning a degree in international
relations from the University of Southern California,
He attended Oregon State University before enlisting in the U.S. Navy
after World War II, serving in San Diego.
Craggy-faced, veteran Chicago-born film and television character whose
initial career started off in the late 1950s and early 1960s playing
western bad guys. He later put his indelible print on kindly doctor
types on scores of TV programs, notably his Dr. Hiram Baker on Little House on the Prairie (1974).
One time considered being a lawyer, attending law school at UCLA before
deciding to drop out and trying his luck at acting.