He is probably best known for his first major television role on Newhart as the "First Darryl" (as in, "Hi, I'm Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother Darryl."). However, he had two minor film roles beforehand, first in 1981's Escape from New York, co-starring fellow DS9 guest actor Adrienne Barbeau, and then in 1982's Firefox, with fellow Trek performers Ward Costello and Richard Derr. Papenfuss has also played Adolf Hitler (or a parody of him) on several occasions, most recently in the 2002 film How to Kill a Mockingbird.