Dr. Langsley was born in Topeka, Kansas. His family moved to Monticello, New York in 1927. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Army but completed a semester at the State University in Albany, New York, before being called to active duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, during WWII. He served as a Sergeant in the infantry. He returned to Albany to complete his undergraduate degree (1949) and received his M.D. at the University of Rochester School of Medicine (1953). He interned at the Marine Hospital in San Francisco (1953–54) while a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. His residency was spent at the Langley Porter Clinic in San Francisco (1958–67), following which he received a Career Teacher Award from the National Institute of Mental Health under the supervision of Jurgen Ruesch (1958–61). His psychoanalytic training was at the San Francisco and Chicago Institutes (1958–67).
He moved to Denver in 1961 as Director of Inpatient Services and then Director of the Colorado Psychiatric Hospital, where he remained until 1968. He then moved to Sacramento, California, as Chief of the County Mental Health Program (1968–73) and Joint Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California Davis, where he had the opportunity to develop both the county mental health program and the psychiatric training program at the medical school.
In 1976, Dr. Langsley accepted the position of Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati, where he remained until 1981, when he moved to the Chicago area to become Executive Vice President of the American Board of Medical Specialties. He also served as Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Medical School and was Director of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (1976–80). Dr. Langsley has a long bibliography. He received the APA Hofheimer Award in 1971.
Dr. Langsley was closely involved with psychiatric organizational activities. He served as President-elect of the Colorado Psychiatric Society, before he moved to Davis and as Secretary, Delegate, and President of the Central California Psychiatric Society (1970–76).
Dr. Langsley was Vice President of the American Psychiatric Association and President (1980–81).