Thinking of a future after boxing, he launched a career as an actor. He had a featured role as a Dutch bare-knuckle boxer offered a bribe to throw a fight in an episode of the Western television series "Gunsmoke" titled "The Promoter" (1964). The director Andrew V. McLaglen had writer John Meston write the episode inspired by Wilhelm's life as a boxer. On film he started with a small role in the World War II film "Morituri" (1965) starring Marlon Brando, and around the same time a bit part in the Alfred Hitchcock political thriller "Torn Curtain" (1966).