Son of landscape painter Barry Atwater (1892-1956).
Tall, sinewy, rather hard-faced character actor, ideally suited to play tough cops, gunslingers and even zombies. Best as the vampire Janos Skorzeny in the 'Kolchak' pilot movie The Night Stalker (1972) (TV)and the venerable father of Vulcan philosophy, Surak, in "Star Trek" (1966).
Taught recording and mixing techniques at the UCLA sound department from 1948 to 1952. Had a small role in the Oscar-winning short student film A Time Out of War (1954) which led to acting on the legit stage and for television (from 1955).