The
New York City-born and raised Challenger first got his acting start on the stage in the early 1960s, performing in the off-Broadway plays
The Rise and Fall Of The City Of Mahagonny,
Along Came A Spider, and the Jacques Levy-directed
Scuba Duba, where he appeared alongside the likes of future television and film stars such as
Judd Hirsch,
Conrad Bain, and
Jerry Orbach. The play ran for 692 performances, from October 10, 1967, to June 8, 1969. He also appeared in the Broadway productions
Tambourines In Grey (1963),
Do I Hear A Waltz? (1965),
Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright (1962), and four-time
Tony Award winning,
Robert Lewis directed
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965) which ran for 280 performances, from October 17, 1965, to June 11, 1966. Challenger was married to veteran British actress
Lisa Davis Waltz from December 31, 1973, to September 14, 1978, after almost two and a half years of separation. Challenger retired from acting on both stage and screen in 1989. He latterly resided in
Southern California with his wife, Charlotte. Challenger died in
Van Nuys, California on August 22, 2012, at the age of 83. ==Filmography==