Played football at the University of Southern California, where he was on the Freshman team with John Wayne, and where the team won a P.C.C. championship in 1928 and a Rose Bowl in 1930.
Developed a pilot for a proposed series "Citizen Soldier" with Dalton Trumbo about military intelligence in the Cold War taking place in Germany. The US Army and Dept of State gave Templeton classified documents to use as background material for the series.