He also played the father of the title character in Conan the Barbarian, writing his own lines for his monologue that opens the film.
(They smeared Karo syrup and peanut butter on his face to keep the critters in the shot.) Smith used a ball-and-chain belt on Brynner in the climax of The Ultimate Warrior, and his character ends up falling down a chute filled with rodents. He also was unforgettable in the blaxploitation films Hammer (1972), Black Samson (1974) and Boss Nigger (1975). On the ABC show’s final episode in 1968, he was on the receiving end of a Whamm!!, Zowie!, Splatt!, Crash! and Sock! from Batman, Robin and Batgirl.
WILLIAM SMITH ACTOR YOUNG SERIES
Two years later, he worked on the BBC series Zero One (its title was the call-sign of the International Air Security Agency) with Nigel Patrick.Īn inductee into the Muscle Beach Venice Bodybuilding Hall of Fame, Smith was perfect for the role as Adonis, a henchman for Zsa Zsa Gabor’s evil Minerva on Batman. In 1961, he starred on the studio’s ABC police drama The Asphalt Jungle opposite Jack Warden. But while working on his doctorate in foreign-language studies, he landed an acting contract at MGM.
Fluent in Russian, German, French and Serbo-Croatian, he caught the eye of the CIA and NSA, which gave him a teaching position within the agencies. Air Force in 1951, won a boxing championship and served in the Korean War. Louis (1944) and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945). in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and showed up in The Song of Bernadette (1943), Going My Way (1944), Meet Me in St. He was an uncredited child extra on set with Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. Speaking of smoking, Smith was the last “Marlboro Man” in commercials before cigarette advertising was discontinued.īorn on a cattle ranch in Columbia, Missouri, on March 24, 1933, Smith and his family moved to Southern California after the Dust Bowl. “We shot it in Jackson, Wyoming, which is about 8,000 feet high in altitude, and I was smoking so hard at the time.” “It has to be one of the longest two-man fights ever done on film without doubles,” Smith said in an interview for Louis Paul’s 2014 book Tales From the Cult Film Trenches. The trailer called it “the most knuckle-busting, gut-wrenching, brain-scrambling, butt-bruising, lip-splitting brawl of all time.” In Any Which Way You Can (1980), Smith’s Jack Wilson squares off with Clint Eastwood’s Philo Beddoe in a long bare-knuckle bout through the streets and restaurants of Wyoming. Now that was a good fight!”Īfter they healed, they worked again in the Western The Deadly Trackers (1973). Rod is a skilled fighter and at the same time a real scrapper. That was a real fight with real blood and real broken bones. “Fight choreography and staging went out the window when Rod decided to really hit me,” Smith remembered in a 2010 interview.
Taylor broke three of Smith’s ribs and Smith busted Taylor’s nose during the scene. Smith appeared late in a vicious turn as the hired thug Anthony Falconetti, then returned the following year for the sequel.Īs a sadistic bodybuilder in Darker Than Amber (1970), he participated in a violent free-for-all with Taylor that is regarded as one of the most realistic of all time. James “Kimo” Carew.ĪBC’s Rich Man, Poor Man, which premiered in February 1976, was the first miniseries broadcast on American television (it preceded Roots by 11 months) and was an adaptation of the Irwin Shaw novel about two German-American brothers (Peter Strauss and Nick Nolte) and their lives after World War II. On NBC’s Laredo, Smith starred as gunfighter turned Texas Ranger Joe Riley during that Western’s two seasons (1965-67), and he joined CBS’ original Hawaii Five-O for its final year (1979-80) to portray Det. and Company (1970), starring Joe Namath and Ann-Margret in Chrome and Hot Leather (1971), opposite Marvin Gaye and in Gentle Savage (1973) and Eye of the Tiger (1986). He was a go-to-guy when casting for biker films, starring in director Jack Starrett’s Run, Angel, Run! (1969) and The Losers (1970) in Angels Die Hard (1970), from Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in C.C.
Smith starred with fellow bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian (1982) and spoke fluent Russian as a colonel in Red Dawn (1984) - both those films were directed by John Milius - and, as a gang leader named Carrot, battled Yul Brynner with a ball and chain in The Ultimate Warrior (1975). Glenda Jackson, Feisty Two-Time Oscar Winner, Dies at 87
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