After the war, Martin moved to Los Angeles and worked as a swimming instructor and as a swimming extra in water scenes in films. He earned bit roles in a number of pictures and soon gained frequent character roles in films and television through the 1950s, having appeared in such programs as the Western anthology series, "Frontier" on NBC and the syndicated American Civil War drama "Gray Ghost". He was cast in 1955 as Landry Kersh in the episode "Shadow of God" on the ABC religion anthology series, "Crossroads". He portrayed a man with learning difficulties in the "Cooter" episode written by Sam Peckinpah in the third season of "Gunsmoke" (1958).