In the late 1940s, Barton appeared on stage in a production of Mister Roberts alongside Cliff Robertson, Lee Van Cleef, John Forsythe and Brian Keith. He had a long career in television from the 1950s through the 1980s, playing in a variety of different shows including Playhouse 90. He was cast as Jim Ellis, a schoolmaster with a mysterious past who claims to have killed a bank robber, in the 1957 season premiere, Incident at Indian Springs, of the ABC/Warner Brothers western television series, Cheyenne, with Clint Walker in the title role. Barton portrayed Sergeant Burke in the NBC crime drama Dan Raven.Among other series in which he appeared were The Lone Ranger, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, Bonanza, Barnaby Jones, The F.B.I., Ironside, The Streets of San Francisco, The Rockford Files, Battlestar Galactica and Quincy M.E. Barton also portrayed Earl Carnes, the character you loved to hate on NBC's Days of Our Lives. In his later years, Barton was highly in demand as a voice-over talent. He narrated documentaries, worked in commercials and provided the voices for many characters in video games. He also spent several years recording books for the blind for The Braille Institute. He was the spokesman for Northrup Aviation for twelve years and did voice-over work for companies such as Coca-Cola, Kelloggs, Microsoft and Nike. Barton also was the voice in many political campaign commercials, including prominent Republicans Arnold Schwarzenegger and Elizabeth Dole, despite his own position as a lifelong Democrat.