Mr. Wiseman had a talent for projecting villainy. Critic Robert Brustein called him "the spookiest actor in the American theatre. He would be ideally cast as Dracula." He played a burglar in the Sidney Kingsley's original Detective Story (later recreating his performance on film) and Eddie Fuselli in a 1952 revival of Clifford Odets' Golden Boy. He portrayed the Inquisitor in another version of the Joan of Arc story, 1955's The Lark, alongside Julie Harris; acted alongside Katharine Cornell in That Lady in 1949; and was Ferdinard, the evil duke in Webster The Duchess of Malfi, a Phoenix Theatre production in 1957.

In the early 1960s, he appeared with the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center, starring in the premiere of Arthur Miller's Incident at Vichy. He was back at Lincoln Center in 1969 as the title character in The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He won a Drama Desk Award for his performance.

He returned only sporadically to the stage after that, in Zalman or The Madness of God in 1976, a revival of The Tenth Man in 1989 and Judgment at Nuremberg in 2001. Off-Broadway work included the premiere of Tony Kushner's Slavs.

His film credits include "Detective Story" (1951), starring Kirk Douglas, "Viva Zapata!" (1952), playing Marlon Brando's arch enemy, "The Night They Raided Minsky's" (1968), "The Betsy" (1978) and "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz" (1974).

His wife, choreographer Pearl Long, a noted dancer for Martha Graham, died in February 2009. He is survived by his daughter, named Martha Graham Wiseman.