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William Smith

Known for: Acting

William Smith was an American film and television actor who appeared in more than 300 feature films and television productions, best known for playing Anthony Falconetti on the TV mini series "Rich Man, Poor Man". He held a BA from Syracuse and an MA in Russian Studies from UCLA. Born in Columbia, Missouri, Smith began his acting career at the age of eight in 1942; he entered films as a child actor in such films as The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Song of Bernadette and Meet Me in St. Louis. He was a regular on the 1961 ABC television series The Asphalt Jungle, portraying police Sergeant Danny Keller. One of his earliest leading roles was as Joe Riley, a Texas Ranger on the NBC western series Laredo. In 1967, Smith guest starred as Jude Bonner on James Arness's long-lived western Gunsmoke. Smith was cast as John Richard Parker, brother of Cynthia Ann Parker, both taken hostage in Texas by the Comanche, in the 1969 episode "The Understanding" of the syndicated television series Death Valley Days, which was hosted by Robert Taylor. In the story line, Parker contracts the plague, is left for dead by his fellow Comanche warriors, and is rescued by his future Mexican wife, Yolanda (Emily Banks). He played outlaw turned temporary sheriff Hendry Brown in the 1969 episode "The Restless Man". In that story line, Brown takes the job of sheriff to tame a lawless town, begins to court a young woman (again played by Emily Banks), but soon returns to his deadly outlaw ways in search of bigger thrills. On Gunsmoke, Smith appeared in a 1972 episode, "Hostage!"; his character beats and rapes 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".

Filmography 64

Hawaii Five-O 1969TV show Pluto TVApple TV Store as Det. James 'Kimo' Carew
Maniac Cop 1988Movie Criterion ChannelShudder Amazon ChannelShudder +5 as Captain Ripley
Rumble Fish 1983Movie Apple TV StoreGoogle Play MoviesYouTube +1 as Patterson the Cop
Zero One 1962TV show as Jimmy Delaney
The Mean Season 1985Movie Tubi TVApple TV StoreGoogle Play Movies +1 as Albert O'Shaughnessy
Hell Comes to Frogtown 1988Movie Amazon Prime VideoAmazon Prime Video with AdsTubi TV +3 as Captain Devlin / Count Sodom
The Losers 1970Movie Tubi TV as Link Thomas
Fast Company 1979Movie Amazon Prime VideoAmazon Prime Video with AdsTubi TV +3 as Lonnie 'Lucky Man' Johnson
The Thing with Two Heads 1972Movie FlixFling as Hysterical Condemned Man (uncredited)
B.O.R.N. 1989Movie Tubi TVPlex as Dr. Farley
Black Samson 1974Movie Hoopla as Johnny Nappa
Crowhaven Farm 1970Movie as Patrolman Hayes
Scorchy 1976Movie Amazon Prime VideoAmazon Prime Video with AdsTubi TV as Carl Henrich
Bulletproof 1988Movie Amazon Prime VideoAmazon Prime Video with Ads as Russian Major
L.A. Vice 1989Movie Plex as Capt. Joe Wilkes