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Anderson grew up in Los Angeles and made his stage debut as a spear carrier in a 1946 production of "Volpone" at the Las Palmas Theatre, just two blocks away from Hollywood High School (although Anderson had attended high school in West Los Angeles). In 1949, he made his film debut playing a dying soldier in "Twelve O'Clock High". The next year, Anderson and another young hopeful, Beverly Garland, were regulars on a short-lived live sitcom produced for ABC from Hollywood called "Mama Rosa". Few may recall that show today, but it helped to get Anderson a contract with MGM, which, as studios then did, kept him away from TV. Instead, during his six years under contract, Anderson played a host of supporting parts in action films and forgettable films, including "Across the Wide Missouri" (1951), "Escape From Fort Bravo" (1953) and "Hit the Deck" (1955), in which he was a sailor on shore leave in a minor musical production. It was not until after he had left MGM that Anderson had his first screen lead in "Curse of the Faceless Man" (1958), a low-budget sci-fi programmer in which he was a gladiator who had been encased in the lava of Pompeii for centuries. Later films had Anderson playing captains and charge d'affaires to screen legends in "Seven Days in May" (1964) and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970). He even had a small role in Robert Altman's "The Player" (1992).
But Anderson's work has almost entirely been in TV since 1956, when he did an episode of "The Millionaire". He then played frequent roles on "Zorro" and "The Rifleman" and guested on many other series before 20th Century Fox signed him to a contract and cast him as district attorney Glenn Wagner in "Bus Stop" (ABC, 1961-62). From 1963-64, Anderson was Colonel Hiland on "The Lieutenant" (NBC). and later appeared on the final season of "Perry Mason" (CBS, 1965-66), as a police lieutenant who clashed with Raymond Burr's attorney, and as Burt Reynolds' boss on the cop drama "Dan August" (ABC, 1970-71). After more than 20 years, the steady work of a successful series had proven elusive, and Anderson's closest claim to a Trivia Pursuit question was his role as Richard Kimble's brother-in-law on "The Fugitive". Then came the world of cyborgs: Anderson played Oscar Goldman, the government's liaison to both "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman". He later reprised the role in "The Return of the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman" (NBC, 1987), and subsequent TV movies in the 90s. In the 80s, Anderson was again a boss, this time to Jennifer O'Neill and Jon-Erik Hexum, in "Cover Up" (CBS, 1984-85), and appeared on one season of "Dynasty" (ABC, 1986-87), as Senator Buck Fallmont, whose wife Emily (Pat Crowley) made being indiscreet an art form. Anderson has also appeared in TV-movies and miniseries, including "Among Came a Spider" (ABC, 1970) and "The Immigrants" (syndicated, 1978).