His rugged good looks won him a contract with Universal Studios, for which he made a number of films, although he often found himself in the shadow of more famous leading men such as Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, and Jeff Chandler. His first film for Universal was a Western, "Four Guns to the Border" (1954), wherein he was billed beneath Rory Calhoun and Colleen Miller. He followed it with "Six Bridges to Cross" (1955), supporting Tony Curtis and Julie Adams in a role that Chandler had refused.