Roger Smith (actor)

Infobox actor
name = Roger Smith

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imagesize = 180px
birthname = Roger LaVerne Smith
birthdate = birth date and age|1932|12|18
birthplace = South Gate, California, USA
occupation = Actor, screenwriter
spouse = Ann-Margret (1967-present)
Victoria Shaw (1956-1965)
yearsactive =
homepage =

Roger LaVerne Smith (born December 18, 1932) is an American television and film actor and scriptwriter.

Biography

Early life

A debonair and handsome leading man in his youth, Smith was born in South Gate, California, the son of Dallas and Leone Smith. When he was six, his parents enrolled him into a stage school; there he took singing, dancing and elocution lessons. He was educated at the University of Arizona at Tucson on a football scholarship. He won several amateur talent prizes as a singer and guitarist.

Career

Smith served with the Naval Reserve in Hawaii. After a chance meeting with the actor James Cagney, he was encouraged to try a career in Hollywood. Cagney had also encouraged other young actors, including Don Dubbins, for whom he found roles in two 1956 films.

Smith signed with Columbia Pictures in 1957 and made several films, then moved to Warner Bros. in 1959. His signature television role was as Jeff Spencer, a private detective in the firm headed by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. Like some other detective shows of the period, this show's title was its address: "77 Sunset Strip". Smith appeared in seventy-four episodes of the series but left the program in 1962 because of a blood clot in his brain. His health continued to decline for some time, and he was forced to retire from acting after Myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, was diagnosed in 1965. His condition went into remission in 1985. Following his retirement from performing, he has managed his wife Ann-Margret's career and produced her popular Las Vegas stage shows.

Smith appeared on "This is Your Life" when host Ralph Edwards devoted an episode to Ann-Margret. In addition to the appearances credited below, Smith has appeared as himself on several game shows.

Personal life

Smith married twice. His first wife was Australian-born actress Victoria Shaw, and together had three children: daughter Tracey (b. 1957), son Jordan (b. 1958), and son Dallas (b. 1961). They divorced in 1965. He is currently married to Swedish-born actress Ann-Margret since 8 May 1967.

Filmography

Television

* "Original Amateur Hour (1948)...as a singer and guitarist with Ted Mack
* Damon Runyon Theater: "Hot Oil" (1956) .... Richard
* Celebrity Playhouse: "Faith" (1956)
* Ford Theatre: "Stand by to Dive" (1956) .... Skee Langford
* Ford Theatre: "A Past Remembered" (1956) .... Jug Jensen
* Ford Theatre: "Never Lend Money to a Woman" (1956) .... Carter
* "Sheriff of Cochise:" "The Kidnapper" (1957) .... Jim
* "West Point:" "M-24" (1957)
* The George Sanders Mystery Theater: "Round Trip" (1957)
* "Father Knows Best" (1957-1958) .... Doyle Hobbs
* "Wagon Train:" "The Daniel Barrister Story" (1958) .... Dr. Peter Culver
* "Sugarfoot:" "Yampa Crossing" (1958) .... Gene Blair
* "77 Sunset Strip" (1958-1963) .... Jeff Spencer
* "Hawaiian Eye:" "I Wed Three Wives" (1960) .... Jeff Spencer
* "Surfside 6:" "Love Song for a Deadly Redhead" (1962) .... Jeff Spencer
* Kraft Suspense Theatre: "Knight's Gambit" (1964) .... Anthony Griswold Knight
* "Mister Roberts" (1965 Series) .... Lt. Douglas Roberts
* "Hullabaloo" (1966)

Film

* "Man of a Thousand Faces" (1957) .... Creighton Chaney at 21
* "Operation Mad Ball" (1957) .... Cpl. Berryman
* "No Time to Be Young" (1957) .... Bob Miller
* "Crash Landing" (1958) .... John Smithback
* "Auntie Mame" (1958) .... Patrick Dennis -older
* "Never Steal Anything Small" (1959) .... Dan Cabot
* "For Those Who Think Young" (1964) (uncredited) .... Detective
* "Rogues' Gallery" (1968) .... Richard Rogue
* "Sette uomini e un cervello" (1968) .... Un giocatore

References

External links

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