Henry's most prominent role was as
Tarzan in three 1960s movies
Tarzan and the Valley of Gold (1966),
Tarzan and the Great River (1967), and
Tarzan and the Jungle Boy (1968) that were all filmed back-to-back in 1965. At the time, critics said the dark-haired, square-jawed, muscular Henry resembled classic illustrations of the apeman more than any other actor who had taken on the role. Henry turned down the lead of the subsequent
Tarzan television series, which then went to
Ron Ely. Henry is probably best known to movie audiences for playing
Jackie Gleason's character's son Junior in the
Smokey and the Bandit comedies starring
Burt Reynolds and
Sally Field. Henry portrayed a corrupt prison guard in
The Longest Yard (1974). Henry played Sergeant Kowalski in
The Green Berets (1968), Luke Santee in
More Dead Than Alive (1968), and corrupt Sheriff "Blue Tom" Hendricks in
Rio Lobo (1970). He also acted with
Charlton Heston in three films: the football movie
Number One (1969),
Skyjacked (1972), and
Soylent Green (1973). Henry played Lt. Col. Donald Penobscot in an episode of the television series
M*A*S*H. In another football-oriented role, he portrayed Tatashore, one of the members of the gang who kidnap Larry Bronco (
Larry Csonka) in the "One of Our Running Backs Is Missing" episode of
The Six Million Dollar Man. ==Personal life==