William smith children

American actor (–)

For other people named William Smith, see William Smith (disambiguation).

William Smith
Smith in Invasion of the Bee Girls ()
Born	William Emmett Smith ()March 24, Columbia, Missouri, U.S.
Died	July 5, () (aged&#;88) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other&#;names	Big Bill
Occupation	Actor
Years&#;active	–
Spouses	Michele Smith &#; &#; (m.&#;; div.&#;)&#; Joanne Cervelli &#; (m.&#;)&#;
Children	William E. Smith III Sherri Anne Cervelli[1]
Website

William Emmett Smith (March 24, – July 5, ) was an American actor. In a Hollywood career spanning more than 79 years, he appeared in almost three hundred feature films and television productions in a wide variety of character roles, often villainous or brutal, accumulating over total credits,^[2] with his best known role being the menacing Anthony Falconetti in the s television mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man.

Smith is also known for films like Any Which Way You Can (), Conan the Barbarian (), Rumble Fish (), and Red Dawn (), as well as lead roles in several exploitation films during the s and s.^[2] He also appeared in episode 2 of Planet of the Apes tv series as Tolar.

Actor william smith biography William Smith actor was a veteran and a true legend who acted in around feature films and television projects during his year Hollywood career. He gained recognition for playing the role of sinister Anthony Falconetti in the s television mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man. The reason for death has not been revealed. Smith was born on March 24, , in Columbia, Missouri. Louis as a child actor.

Early life and career

Smith was born on March 24, , in Columbia, Missouri, to William Emmett Smith and Emily (Richards) Smith and grew up on their cattle ranch.^[1] His family later moved to Southern California, where he began his acting career at the age of eight in , entering show business as a child actor in such films as The Ghost of Frankenstein,^[3]The Song of Bernadette and Meet Me in St.

Louis.^[4]

Smith served in the United States Air Force. He won the pound (91&#;kg) arm-wrestling championship of the world multiple times, also winning the United States Air Force weightlifting championship. A lifelong bodybuilder, Smith was a record holder for reverse-curling his own body weight. His trademark arms measured as much as 18+1&#;4 inches.^{[citation needed]} Smith held a 31–1 record as an amateur boxer.

A fluent Russian speaker with a master's degree in the discipline from UCLA, during the Korean War Smith was a Russian Intercept Interrogator and flew secret ferret missions over the Russian SFSR. He was reportedly also fluent in French, German and Serbo-Croatian.^[5] While working on his doctorate, Smith was offered a contract with MGM, which would pave his career.

Tv show laredo actor william smith biography

In a Hollywood career spanning more than 79 years, he appeared in almost three hundred feature films and television productions in a wide variety of character roles, often villainous or brutal, accumulating over total credits, [ 2 ] with his best known role being the menacing Anthony Falconetti in the s television mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man. Smith is also known for films like Any Which Way You Can , Conan the Barbarian , Rumble Fish , and Red Dawn , as well as lead roles in several exploitation films during the s and s. Smith served in the United States Air Force. He won the pound 91 kg arm-wrestling championship of the world multiple times, also winning the United States Air Force weightlifting championship. A lifelong bodybuilder, Smith was a record holder for reverse-curling his own body weight.

From to , Smith established himself as a prolific and talented character actor with roles in a diverse range of genres. Although often typecast as an anti-social personality, he sporadically got the opportunity to prove his effectiveness in other kinds of roles as a law enforcement officer or an anti-heroic protagonist.

He was a regular on the ABC television series The Asphalt Jungle, portraying police Sergeant Danny Keller. In , he appeared in the episode "The Rope of Lies" as Bill, a ranch hand from the Shiloh Ranch in the syndicated television series The Virginian. He appeared in the Wagon Train episode "The Bob Stuart Story" and also gave a moving performance as the orphaned Native American valet who rails against violence opposite Guy Stockwell in "The Richard Bloodgood Story" S8 E10 which aired on 11/28/ One of his earliest leading roles was Joe Riley, a good-natured Texas Ranger with arms of steel on the NBC western series Laredo (–).

Smith guest starred as Jude Bonner on James Arness's long-lived western Gunsmoke^[6] in a episode, "Hostage!"; his character abducts, beats, and apparently rapes (off-screen) Amanda Blake's character, Miss Kitty Russell, and shoots her twice in the back. Smith has been described as the "greatest bad-guy character actor of our time".^[7]

Smith joined the cast of the final season of Hawaii Five-O as Detective James "Kimo" Carew, a new officer in the Five-O unit.

He had previously appeared with Jack Lord in Stoney Burke. Smith starred in one episode each of the Adam WestBatman TV series (in the episode "Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires" as Adonis, one of the minions of the title guest villainess portrayed by Zsa Zsa Gabor), I Dream of Jeannie (in the episode "Operation: First Couple on the Moon" as Turk Parker), Kung Fu and as The Treybor, a ruthless warlord, in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Buck's Duel to the Death".

Tv and movie actor william smith biography She also penned on Facebook , "My heart hurts so badly. Throughout his career, Smith was known for persevering in a cutthroat industry. Per Deadline , Smith began his path to stardom as an extra in 's "The Ghost of Frankenstein," and although Smith didn't receive credit for the small role, he got more opportunities, acting in "The Song of Bernadette" and "Meet Me in St. Louis," shortly after, per IMDb. Those uncredited roles early in his career served as motivation for him to make it big, but Smith also did not give up on his schooling.

Smith also made guest appearances opposite James Garner in the two-hour pilot for The Rockford Files (titled "Backlash of the Hunter") and George Peppard in The A-Team (in two appearances as different characters, in the first season's "Pros and Cons" and the fourth season's "The A-Team Is Coming, The A-Team Is Coming"). In the television miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, he portrayed Anthony Falconetti, nemesis of the Jordache family, and reprised the role in the sequel, Rich Man, Poor Man Book II.^[1]

Other s TV appearances included the Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode "The Energy Eater", as an Indian medicine man who advises Kolchak, and an early Six Million Dollar Man episode "Survival of the Fittest" as Commander Maxwell.

He also appeared in the miniseries The Rebels as John Waverly; in an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard as Jason Steele, a bounty hunter hired by Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane to frame the Duke Boys into jail; and an episode of Knight Rider as Harold Turner, the manipulative leader of a hellish biker gang whom Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) has to outsmart.

On the big screen, Smith became the star of several cult feature films in the early s. He appeared as heavy Terry Bartell in Darker than Amber in In the fist fight scene that ends the film, Rod Taylor hit Smith (who was playing the villain) who retaliated in kind,^[8] and a staged-fight scene became a real fight as the cameras continued to roll.^[1] Smith later reported that Taylor was "a very tough guy" who broke three of his ribs while he broke Taylor's nose.^[9]

Also in , Smith featured in two biker flicksNam's Angels (originally released under the title "The Losers") co-starring Bernie Hamilton and C.C.

and Company, the latter of which was directed by Seymour Robbie and written by Roger Smith.

Will smith biography

William smith biography children

William Smith - Biography - IMDb

He starred in 's Grave of the Vampire as James Eastman and in 's Invasion of the Bee Girls, and 's The Swinging Barmaids.

In and , respectively, he appeared in two popular Blaxploitation films, Hammer and the controversially titled Boss Nigger, both with Fred Williamson. In , he appeared in a Columbo episode "The Greenhouse Jungle" as Ken Nichols, a handsome swindler who may be a person of interest in Columbo's murder investigation.

After that, he appeared as a vindictive sergeant in Twilight's Last Gleaming (), as a drag-racing legend in Fast Company (), as the title character's father in Conan the Barbarian () (a movie in which he was also briefly considered for the lead role), as bad guy Matt Diggs in The Frisco Kid (), as Clint Eastwood's bare-knuckle opponent Jack Wilson in 's Any Which Way You Can and had the top villainous role as a Soviet Spetsnaz commander in 's Red Dawn.

In , Smith appeared in two films from Francis Ford Coppola in The Outsiders as a store clerk and in Rumble Fish as a police officer. In , he landed the starring role of Brodie Hollister in the short-lived Disney Western series Wildside and another role as the bookmaker Dutchman's strongarm enforcer known simply as "Panama Hat", in director Richard Brooks's final movie, Fever Pitch ().

From the late 80's on and into the new millennium, Smith's icy stare, physique and continuous essaying of scene-stealing character villainy continued in a string of B-features and direct-to-video productions. Many were continuing collaborations with filmmakers he had worked with years prior along with other character players who also achieved cult status in their own right.

Such names include Robert Z'Dar, Joe Estevez, Tim Thomerson, James Drury, Lloyd Kaufman, Gary Graver, Wolf Larson and Jürgen Prochnow.

In , Smith voiced Draaga, an alien gladiator, in the Justice League episode "War World".

Although it was reported that Smith retired in , he made a cameo appearance in Irresistible ().

Post-retirement and death

In , Smith published The Poetic Works of William Smith.^[1]

Smith died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Los Angeles on July 5, , at the age of ^[10]

Selected filmography

References

External links