Attended the University of Arizona-Tucson on a football
scholarship.
In 1965 he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a muscle disorder, which forced him to retire from performing. The illness went into remission in 1985.
In 1963 he left 77 Sunset Strip (1958) after doctors discovered a blood clot in his
brain.
Married Ann-Margret at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas.
Children by first wife Victoria Shaw: daughter Tracey (born 3 July 1957), son
Jordan (born 4 October 1958), and son Dallas (born 23 December 1961).
He obtained sole custody of them in 1973.