Ballantine was billed as "The Amazing Mr. Ballantine" when he played the New York Capitol in 1950, The Ed Sullivan Show in 1953 and the Las Vegas El Rancho Vegas in 1956. Ballantine is probably best remembered as Lester Gruber, one of the PT boat sailors in the ABC sitcom McHale's Navy (1962-1966), starring with Ernest Borgnine, Joe Flynn and Tim Conway. He appeared as Lycus the slave merchant, on Broadway in the 1972 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum starring Phil Silvers. Ballantine died November 3, 2009 at age 92