In the early years of television, he wrote for Studio One and then moved on to write episodes of Mister Peepers (1952-53). He followed with teleplays for Campbell Playhouse (1954), Justice (1954), Goodyear Television Playhouse (1953-54) and Producers' Showcase (1955). One of his four 1951-55 plays for Philco Television Playhouse was the Emmy-nominated A Man is Ten Feet Tall (1955), with Don Murray and Sidney Poitier, which was adapted two years later as the theatrical film, Edge of the City (1957) with Poitier and John Cassavetes. He did two teleplays for Playhouse 90, and one of these, A Sound of Different Drummers (3 October 1957), borrowed so heavily from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that Bradbury sued.
After 1957, he continued to do screenplays. He was one of the writers on Spring Reunion (1957), notable as Betty Hutton's last movie, following with Warlock (1959), an uncredited contribution to Lilith (1964), John Frankenheimer's Grand Prix (1966)
He wrote and directed The Lost Man (1969) about a black militant (Sidney Poitier). As the writer-producer of All That Jazz (1979) he received two Academy Award nominations.
Aurthur was the first husband of actress Bea Arthur.
