Throughout the time he was in university, he worked as a saxophone player and upon graduation became a bandleader of jazz band. Eventually he had a small band of his own and he continued to carve a career in music until 1936, when he switched careers and became an actor. He soon became a B-movie stalwart.

His first movie role was an uncredited part in the film Sweetheart of the Navy (1937) and he ended up with over 200 motion picture credits. Some of the films that he appeared in were Apache Trail (1942), Samson and Delilah (1949), Winchester '73 (1950), The Wild One (1953), The Command (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). His last film was Chisum (1970). Altogether he was credited in seventy-three Westerns, six serials, twelve features and six short films. The rest of his film roles were uncredited appearances. He was also sometimes credited as Ray E. Teal.

Teal played a variety of roles in films and seemed suited to the western more than any other type of film genre. These roles included cops, taxi drivers, mashers, lynch mob leaders and other nasty characters. He was cast in these sort of roles because of his mean and harsh looks but in reality, Teal was a pleasant fellow, the total opposite to many of the characters he played.

Movie serials he appeared in included the Adventures of Red Ryder. Television shows that he guest starred on included The Lone Ranger, Maverick, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, 77 Sunset Strip and Lassie.

In 1960, Teal first appeared as Sheriff Roy Coffee, in the season two episode Showdown of the television series Bonanza. He would eventually make eighty-nine appearances as the likeable sheriff, a role that Teal said was his personal favourite. In a lot of episodes, Coffee was the comic relief, but in season five's No Less a Man, Teal was given the rare opportunity to give a performance that rose about the usual standard of what he was required to do.

Teal was five feet, ten inches tall. He died of natural causes on 2 April, 1976 at Santa Monica, California, aged 74.

Sources
TV Tome
Yahoo! Movies
Scenery of the Ponderosa
Doug Macaulay
Internet Movie Database
What A Character
Ray Teal
MSN Entertainment