Stevens became a star as "Peter Gunn" (NBC, 1958-60; ABC, 1960-61), one of the first suave, aggressive lady-killer TV private detectives, but was never able to duplicate the feat, despite headlining a successive variety of short-lived series and busted pilots. He reprised his signature role for Blake Edwards' "Gunn" (1967) and also appeared in Edwards' "S.O.B." (1981), but for the most part limited his acting to TV, where he guest-starred on series like "Ghost Story" (NBC), "The Love Boat" (ABC), "Happy Days" (ABC) and "Murder, She Wrote" (CBS). Stevens portrayed Whitman in NBC's "McCloud: Who Killed Miss U.S.A.?" (1970) and Asher Berg in the 1976 ground-breaking ABC miniseries "Rich Man, Poor Man" before joining the cast of "Dallas" (CBS) as Craig Stewart. His last screen role to date was as Frank Poston in NBC's "Marcus Welby, M.D.--A Holiday Affair" (1988).