Perry is well known for playing the clean-shaven "sailor" in the Old Spice commercials of the 1970s and 1980s. He has appeared in numerous films such as Lipstick (1976), Midway (1976), The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981), Only When I Laugh (1981), Independence Day (1996) and George of the Jungle (1997), and television programs, including The West Wing, L.A. Law, Days of Our Lives, Little House on the Prairie, Centennial, 240-Robert, Nakia, Falcon Crest, Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder and Magnum, P.I.. He also portrayed General Douglas MacArthur in the 1989 film Farewell to the King.