Served in the US Navy from 1938-41, then joined the Merchant Marine as water tender in the engine room but disliked convoy duty because of Axis aircraft attacks and his location three decks below the main deck--this, as he says, ended his "romance with the life of a sailor". He left the Merchant Marine in 1942, joined the US Army and became a platoon sergeant and parachute jump master in the 101st Airborne. Fought in the Battle of the Bulge. While hospitalized with a leg injury sustained in a jump, he read a play written by
Clifford Odets and decided to become an actor.
