Career
When chosen to join Ozzie Nelson"s television series, Young suggested that the last name of his character be "Plumstead". In 1957, Young had a part as Elvis Presley"s friend Teddy in the movie "Loving You". In 1958, he portrayed Sam the Bass Player in the picture Earth v. the Spider.
In 1959, he was cast as Martin in the episode "Premonition" of the anthology series Alcoa Presents: One Step Beyond.
In 1961, he played George Collingwood in the episode "Mike in a Rush" of American Broadcasting Company"s My Three Sons, with Fred MacMurray as Steve Douglas and Tim Considine as oldest son, Mike Douglas. Between 1956 and the end of the series in 1966, Young appears in 66 of the 435 episodes of He portrays a friend of the Nelson brothers, David and Rick, who frequently must rescue the mischief-prone Wally from his self-created predicaments.
In the series, Wally has a girlfriend Ginger, played by Charlene Salerno, which was virtually her only acting role. Young"s first Ozzie and Harriet episode is "The Kappa Sigma Party" (3 October 1956), in which his character was called "Wally Dippel" (as he was in his second appearance, as well).
"Trip Trap" (1966) is Young"s last episode.
Young had few roles after He appeared as a campaign worker in the 1968 episode "The Candidate" of Columbia Broadcasting System"s Green Acres sitcom, starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor. Young played a bartender in the 1977 episode "Long Walk Down A Short Dirt Road" of the American Broadcasting Company crime drama Starsky and Hutch, starring Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul. In 1979, he appeared in the film Smokey and the Hotwire Gang.
In 1987, he hosted a special television Turkeys: The World"s Worst Television Shows.
Young"s last roles were in 1989: as Mr. Zip in the film Lobster Manitoba from Mars and as a coffee shop regular in the episode "Mike and Julie"s Wedding" of the American Broadcasting Company sitcom Growing Pains.
Young died of complications from diabetes at his residence in Apple Valley near Victorville in San Bernardino County, California. In his last years, Young had been a radio host and a judge of beauty contests.
A veteran of the United States Navy in the Korean War, Young is interred at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.