Slate co-starred with
Ron Ely in the 1960–1961
Ivan Tors series The Aquanauts, which was renamed
Malibu Run halfway during its brief run on CBS. The series could not compete successfully in the same time slot as
NBC's durable
western Wagon Train. He guest-starred in nearly 100 television shows and appeared in twenty feature films. Among his many television appearances were two roles in the courtroom drama series
Perry Mason, both times as Perry's client: In season 3, 1960, he played Bob Lansing in the episode, "The Case of the Ominous Outcast", and in season 5, 1962, he played Philip Andrews in "The Case of the Captain's Coins." He guest-starred in the 1959–1960
syndicated western series,
Pony Express, starring
Grant Sullivan. In 1963, Slate was cast as Mark Novak in the episode "The Loner" of the NBC modern western series,
Empire, set on a ranch in
New Mexico. In the storyline he became involved in a deadly boxing match with series character Tal Garrett (
Ryan O'Neal). Also in 1963, he co-starred in an episode of the second season of
Combat! called "Off Limits," produced and directed by Robert Altman. That same year, he played Elroy Daldran, a hired assassin out to kill Eliot Ness, in "A Taste for Pineapple", the final episode (series finale) of
The Untouchables starring
Robert Stack. Finally in 1963, he appeared in James Arness's TV Western series
Gunsmoke, as gunslinger Billy Hargis in “Carter Caper” (season 9, episode 8). He played a troubled surfer in a 1962, season 3 episode of
Route 66 called "Ever Ride the Waves in Oklahoma?". In 1965 he starred as Wally in season 1, episode 21 of
Bewitched, titled "Ling Ling". He later guest-starred as a German infiltrator in a fourth-season episode of
Combat! titled ”The Mockingbird” (aired 1966). Slate played Hank in the NBC comedy
Accidental Family in 1967–1968. From 1979 to 1987, Slate portrayed Chuck Wilson on the
ABC daytime
soap opera One Life to Live. For a short time, from April to October 1985, while Slate was not on
One Life to Live, he portrayed the character of Locke Walls on the
CBS daytime drama (soap opera)
Guiding Light. Slate performed in nine episodes of CBS's long-running
Western series Gunsmoke, including in the role of a likable but doomed cowboy in the 1962 episode "The Gallows" written by
John Meston. He also guest-starred three times on
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour on CBS and then NBC, on CBS's
Mission: Impossible and
The New Adventures of Wonder Woman, ABC's
Bewitched, then NBC's
My Name Is Earl. Slate's acting career included major roles in four
outlaw biker films in the late 1960s:
The Born Losers (1967),
The Mini-Skirt Mob (1968), ''
Hell's Belles (1969) and Hell's Angels '69. As the leader of the Born Losers Motorcycle Club in The Born Losers
, Slate played a ruthless yet likable character who took on Billy Jack. In Hell's Angels '69'', for which he wrote the screen story, Slate played a man who used the
Hells Angels as unwitting dupes in a plan to rob a casino in Las Vegas. Several real-life members of the Hell's Angels had significant speaking roles in the film, including Angels president
Ralph "Sonny" Barger, Terry the Tramp and Magoo. Slate broke his leg during filming and never rode a motorcycle again. He also played a notable role as a Deputy Sheriff in the western
The Sons of Katie Elder starring
John Wayne (1965). ==Songwriting career==