Actor
Slade began his career on the Broadway stage appearing in the play There Was a Little Girl, directed by Joshua Logan; it was Jane Fonda's first Broadway play. Slade then earned a role in the 1961 film Splendor in the Grass, directed by Elia Kazan and filmed in upstate New York. In the early 1960s, he moved to the West Coast, where he was cast as Seaman Jimmy "Red" Smith in the feature film Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961). Despite his character being killed in the movie version, Irwin Allen brought Slade back for the TV series on ABC. He was cast in 1964 as a new character, Seaman Malone.[1]: 1145 He was hence the only one of six actors to have been cast in both the film and television versions of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He appeared only in the first half of the first season because he departed to become a semi-regular, Eddie, in the CBS sitcom Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., starring Jim Nabors. Slade appeared in eight episodes of Gomer Pyle, all of which were aired during the first half of the first season. He was cast in three episodes of the NBC education drama Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus in the title role. His first television role was as Stu Walters in the 1961 episode "Deadline" of the ABC sitcom My Three Sons, starring Fred MacMurray. In 1963, he was cast in the episode "A Girl Named Amy" of Jack Lord's ABC series Stoney Burke, a rodeo adventure series. In 1964, he guest-starred in "The Enormous Fist" episode of Rawhide opposite Eric Fleming and Clint Eastwood. That year, he also appeared as the title character Michael Manning, alias Michael Da Vinci, in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Careless Kidnapper".
In the 1965–1966 television season, Slade played Radioman Patrick Hollis in the NBC sitcom The Wackiest Ship in the Army.[1]: 1147
In 1966, at the age of 27, he obtained one of his most memorable parts, as Billy Blue Cannon, the blond-haired, blue-eyed son of the ranch patriarch, John Cannon (Leif Erickson) on The High Chaparral, set in the Arizona Territory. The series aired for four seasons. In the same year he was cast in an episode of the western TV series Bonanza as Jud Rikeman.
He went on to play Taylor Reed in the 1973 film Salty and reprised his role in the syndicated adventure series Salty (1974–1975).[1]: 924
Slade's acting career continued into the early 1990s. He made more than 300 appearances on stage, screen, and television. Slade won international recognition and numerous awards for his efforts: the Belgian Viewers Award, the Bambi, the Bravo Golden Otto, and the Western Heritage Award.
Artist
As an artist, Slade's illustrations, political cartoons, caricatures, and comic strips have run in numerous newspapers, magazines, and prominent publications around the world. His collaboration with producer/writer Danny Arnold (Barney Miller television series) resulted in the long-running comic strip, "Howard and Friends".
A number of his later works done in oils and graphite, as well as his hand-pulled prints, are held in private collections.
Writer
As a writer, Slade earned critical notice for scripting the “Cliffy” episode of The Rookies, in which he also guest starred, and later published several books, including the novels Going Down Maine (2012), Hangin’ with the Truth (2016), and Don’t Call Me Slye (2024), along with two illustrated collections. He also worked on writing and development projects for the Slade Media Group and its affiliated Slade Square Productions, which produced corporate communications and media projects.
