William Smith (actor)

"Not to be confused with Will Smith"Infobox actor


name = William Smith
caption =
birthdate = Birth date and age|1934|3|24|mf=y
birthplace = Columbia, Missouri

William Smith (born March 24, 1934) is an American actor.

Biography

Smith began his acting career in his childhood. He moved forward into his adult years, appearing in several feature films and on numerous television series. He is perhaps best-known for playing "Anthony Falconetti" on the TV mini-series "Rich Man, Poor Man" and its sequel, "Rich Man, Poor Man Book II", both in 1976. The physically imposing 6'2" actor was a lifelong bodybuilder and had the distinction of being the final Marlboro Man before the cigarette ads were discontinued on TV.

Smith won the 200 pound (91 kg) arm-wrestling championship of the world multiple times and also won the Air Force weightlifting championship. At one time he was in the Guinness Book of World Records for reverse-curling his own bodyweight. His trademark arms measured 18 and 1/2 inches. Smith held a 31-1 record as an amateur boxer and studied martial arts with kenpo instructor Ed Parker for several years. Smith also played semi-pro football in Germany and competed in motocross and downhill skiing events. He entered films stunt doubling for former screen Tarzan Lex Barker in a French film.

Going against his rough-hewn image, Smith was also highly educated. He held a Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse and a Master's Degree in Russian Studies from UCLA. He even taught Russian at UCLA before abandoning his Ph.D. studies for an MGM contract. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Munich while learning languages courtesy of the military. Smith is fluent in Russian, Serbo-Croatian, French, and German. During the Korean War he was a Russian Intercept Interrogator and was awarded a Purple Heart. He had both CIA and NSA clearance and intended to enter a classified position with the U.S. government, but married a French actress which meant he lost his security clearance.

One of his best known roles was as a Texas Ranger on the popular 60's TV Western "Laredo". Smith's character, Joe Riley, was good-natured and snoozy (that is, within the typical Smith warrior persona), in contrast with Peter Brown's ladies' man and Neville Brand's relentless bumbler. Smith played Jude Bohner [ A page out of "Gunsmoke" shows Smith in action [http://www.williamsmith.org/gunsmokehostage.html] ] in a 1972 two hour episode of Gunsmoke as the "greatest bad-guy character actor of our time". [ TV.com [http://www.tv.com/gunsmoke/hostage!/episode/41480/summary.html] ] Smith was added to the cast on the final season of the long running "Hawaii Five-O" series. On film he played Clint Eastwood's bare-knuckle nemesis Jack Wilson in "Any Which Way You Can", the barbarian's father in "Conan the Barbarian", bad guy Matt Diggs in "The Frisco Kid", and as a Russian commander in "Red Dawn". For fans of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels, Smith did a turn as chief heavy Terry Bartell in "Darker Than Amber", opposite Rod Taylor and Theodore Bikel, in 1970. He also appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's classic 1983 films "The Outsiders" and Rumble Fish as a store clerk and a police officer. But his starring roles typically had titles such as "Grave of the Vampire", "Invasion of the Bee Girls", and "The Swinging Barmaids". Smith also played in several biker flicks including "C.C. and Co.", where he starred as the menacing "Moon", opposite football great Joe Namath and Ann Margret. He also starred in "Nam's Angels", which is briefly seen on a television in a scene in Quentin Tarantino's film "Pulp Fiction". Smith has also made guest appearances in numerous TV shows including "Backlash of the Hunter" 1974 which was the pilot for "The Rockford Files" and on "I Dream of Jeannie".

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0810342|name=William Smith
* [http://www.williamsmith.org William Smith.org]