In a 1980s TV commercial for Malt-O-Meal hot cereal, he played the dad telling his son`s invisible friend that Malt-O-Meal was, `Good stuff, Maynard!` -- a line which became a popular phrase still used today. Initially, he was the only main male character of the TV series `The Facts of Life` (1979), playing the headmaster of the girls boarding school.

However, after the first season, the writers rewrote the show to concentrate on a select few female characters and their relationship with the housing mother instead of the whole school.

This also made the stories more about teenage problems and dilemmas and not about comic relief like the first seasons was.

Thus, he was dropped from the show.