Early career MacArthur's first
radio role was on the
Theatre Guild on the Air in 1948, accompanying his mother Helen Hayes. MacArthur made his stage debut in
Olney, Maryland, in 1949 with a two-week stint in
The Corn Is Green. His sister Mary, who was also in the play, had requested that he join the company. The following summer he repeated the role in
Dennis, Massachusetts, and his theatrical career was under way.
Television In 1955, at the age of 18, MacArthur played Hal Ditmar in the television play '"Deal a Blow", an episode of the series
Climax! directed by
John Frankenheimer and starring
Macdonald Carey,
Phyllis Thaxter and
Edward Arnold. The critical response was excellent, with
The New York Times saying that he "performed splendidly." The following year, Frankenheimer directed the film version of the play, which was renamed
The Young Stranger (1957), with MacArthur again in the starring role. His performance was again critically acclaimed, earning him a nomination for Most Promising Newcomer at the 1958
BAFTA awards. In late 1956, it was announced that MacArthur would make
Underdog, based on a novel by
W. R. Burnett, along with his mother and
Susan Strasberg, but the project never materialized. MacArthur returned to television to appear in
World in White (1957) and episodes of
General Electric Theater,
Studio One in Hollywood and
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse.
Disney MacArthur was selected by Walt Disney to star in
The Light in the Forest (1958), playing a white man raised by Indians. In April 1957, he signed a three-picture deal with Disney. For
Light in the Forest he was paid $2,500 per week, which increased to $3,000 per week for the second film and $3,500 for the third. However, MacArthur was only available to work during his summer vacation from
Harvard, where he was studying history. Disney executives liked his performance and cast him in
Third Man on the Mountain (1959), playing a young man who climbs the
Matterhorn. His mother had a cameo role. Deciding to make acting his full-time career, he left Harvard in his second year to appear in two more Disney movies,
Kidnapped (1960) and
Swiss Family Robinson (1960). He was named a possibility for
Bon Voyage (1962) but did not appear in the film. MacArthur made his
Broadway debut in 1960 playing opposite
Jane Fonda in
Invitation to a March, for which he received a
Theatre World Award. Although he never returned to Broadway, he remained active in theater throughout his career, appearing in such productions as
Under the Yum Yum Tree,
The Moon Is Blue,
John Loves Mary (with his wife
Joyce Bulifant),
Barefoot in the Park and ''
Murder at the Howard Johnson's''. He also released several records in the early 1960s, scoring two minor hits with "(The Story of) The In-Between Years" and "The Ten Commandments of Love", which peaked at number 94 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. MacArthur delivered a chilling performance as baby-faced opium dealer Johnny Lubin in
The Untouchables episode "Death For Sale". He also appeared in episodes of the television shows
Bus Stop and
Wagon Train. He returned to feature films as one of several young actors in
The Interns (1962), Columbia's popular medical drama. He appeared in episodes of
The Dick Powell Theatre,
Sam Benedict and
Arrest and Trial, then made ''
Spencer's Mountain (1963) at Warner Bros. with Henry Fonda and Cry of Battle'' (1963) in the
Philippines. He guest-starred on the television shows ''
Burke's Law, The Eleventh Hour, The Great Adventure, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour before appearing in the feature films The Truth About Spring and The Bedford Incident'', both in 1965. In
Battle of the Bulge (1965), MacArthur again played the role of a young and inexperienced officer. He appeared in
Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966) and guest-starred on
Branded,
Combat!,
Gunsmoke,
Hondo,
Insight,
Death Valley Days,
Bonanza,
The Virginian, ''
Twelve O'Clock High and Tarzan''. MacArthur returned to Disney to appear in
Willie and the Yank (1967) for television, released theatrically as ''
Mosby's Marauders. He also had a role in The Love-Ins (1967) for Sam Katzman and a brief but memorable appearance in the Clint Eastwood film Hang 'Em High'' (1968) as a preacher.
Hawaii Five-O ''Hang 'Em High
was written by Leonard Freeman, who was producing a new police procedural, Hawaii Five-O''.
Tim O'Kelly was originally cast as
Jack Lord's assistant, but test audiences felt that he was too young, so MacArthur was offered the role. Appearing in the show made MacArthur wealthy, and he invested much of his earnings in Hawaiian real estate.
William Smith, who replaced him on the show, claimed that MacArthur quit "because Jack Lord wouldn't let him have a dressing room. He had to change in the prop truck for eleven years."
After Hawaii Five-O After leaving
Hawaii Five-O, McArthur guest-starred on television shows such as
Time Express, Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, Walking Tall,
The Littlest Hobo,
Vega$ and
Superboy. He also appeared in the miniseries
Alcatraz: The Whole Shocking Story (1980) and
The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1983). He returned to the stage, appearing in
A Bedfull of Foreigners in Chicago in 1984 and in Michigan in 1985. He followed this with
The Hasty Heart before taking a year out of show business. In 1987, he again took to the stage in
The Foreigner, and then played Mortimer in the national tour of
Arsenic and Old Lace. In 1989, he followed another stint in
The Foreigner with
Love Letters and in 1990–1991,
A Bedfull of Foreigners in Las Vegas.
Semi-retirement From 1959 to 1960, MacArthur partnered with actors
James Franciscus and
Alan Ladd, Jr. in the ownership of a Beverly Hills telephone-answering service. In June 1972, he directed the Honolulu Community Theatre in a production of his father's play
The Front Page. He appeared at conventions, collectors' shows and celebrity sporting events. A keen golfer, he won the 2002 Frank Sinatra Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament. MacArthur also appeared in television and radio specials and on interview programs such as
Entertainment Tonight, ''Christopher's Closeup
and the BBC Radio 5 Live obituary program Brief Lives
, in which he paid tribute to his Hawaii Five-O'' castmate
Kam Fong. In 1997, MacArthur returned without
Jack Lord (who was in declining health) to reprise his character, who had become Hawaii's governor, in the 1997 unaired reboot pilot of
Hawaii Five-O. In April 2003, he traveled to Honolulu's historic Hawaii Theatre for a cameo role in
Joe Moore's play
Dirty Laundry. Negotiations were under way in summer 2010 for MacArthur to make a cameo appearance in the new CBS primetime
remake of Hawaii Five-0 at the time of his death, a role that eventually was offered to
Al Harrington. Before the start of the November 1, 2010, episode, MacArthur's death was mentioned in a short tribute. In 2001, a Golden Palm Star on the
Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to MacArthur. ==Personal life and death==