Talent scouts at 20th Century Fox saw Ames in the production and invited him to play the Cherokee tribesman, Mingo on the NBC television series "Daniel Boone", with Fess Parker, Patricia Blair, Darby Hinton, and Veronica Cartwright. His character's father was an English officer, the Fourth Earl of Dunmore, played in the show by Walter Pidgeon. In that show, Mingo was the Earl's eldest son and thus entitled to claim the title as the fifth Earl, but decided to remain part of the Cherokee Nation. In an episode of Season One, Ames also portrayed Mingo's evil twin brother, Taramingo. Ames' main character was actually named Caramingo, but went by Mingo throughout the entire series. Ames played a Mexican bandit on a 1962 "The Rifleman" episode ("Quiet Night, Deadly Night") and guest-starred as Kennedy in the 1963 episode "The Day of the Pawnees, Part 2" on ABC's "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters", with Kurt Russell in the title role. He guest-starred in 1963 on Richard Egan's NBC modern western series, "Redigo".