William Smith (actor)

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William Smith (born March 24, 1933 in Columbia , Missouri , † July 5, 2021 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American actor and bodybuilder .

Life

Smith began his career at the age of eight as a child actor in the horror film Frankenstein Returns from 1942. Until 1948 he was seen in small roles in various film productions such as The Path to Happiness and Meet Me in St. Louis . He joined the United States Air Force in 1951 and then attended Syracuse University and the University of California in Los Angeles, from which he graduated with a master's degree. At the end of the 1950s he again had a few smaller film roles, but then also worked increasingly for television.

In 1961 he played the role of Sgt. Danny Keller in the crime series Asphaltdschungel , but the series was discontinued after 13 episodes. Between 1962 and 1965 he played Jimmy Delaney in the series Zero One and between 1965 and 1967 he was seen in 56 episodes of the western series Laredo as Texas Ranger Joe Riley. He has also had guest roles in successful series formats such as The Charming Jeannie , The People at Shiloh Ranch , Cobra, Take Over , The Streets of San Francisco , Kung Fu, and Smoking Colts . In 1976, he starred in the miniseries Reich und Arm on the side of Peter Strauss and Nick Nolte . In the final season of the crime series Hawaii Five-Zero , he had the role of Detective James Carew from 1979 to 1980. At the beginning of the 1980s he played again increasingly in guest roles and was represented in the most successful series of their time with appearances in A Colt for All Cases , Knight Rider , Das A-Team and Simon & Simon .

He had a major film role in 1980 as an opponent of Clint Eastwood in the action comedy Full Throttle to San Fernando . He was also seen as Conan's father in Conan the Barbarian and played a Russian officer in the war film The Red Tide . He had supporting roles in Francis Ford Coppola's films The Outsider and Rumble Fish . In some B-movies like Run, Angel, Run (1969) or Invasion of the Bee Maiden (1971) Smith was also to be found as the leading actor. Since the 1990s, Smith appeared primarily in direct-to-video productions. In 2020 he played his last role in Jon Stewart's comedy Irresistible , which made Smith's film career in Hollywood spanned over 75 years and comprised more than 270 productions.

Smith died in July 2021 at the age of 88 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Rhett Bartlett: William Smith, Action Actor and Star of 'Laredo' and 'Rich Man, Poor Man,' Dies at 88. In: The Hollywood Reporter . July 9, 2021, accessed July 11, 2021 (American English).
personal data
SURNAME Smith, William
SHORT DESCRIPTION American actor and former child actor
DATE OF BIRTH March 24, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Columbia , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH July 5, 2021
PLACE OF DEATH Los Angeles , California