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).
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,
Has a son, Christopher Hagen.
He attended Oregon State University before enlisting in the U.S. Navy after World War II, serving in San Diego.
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.
One time considered being a lawyer, attending law school at UCLA before deciding to drop out and trying his luck at acting.