Franklyn Farnum

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William Smith (June 5, 1878 - July 4, 1961), better known by his screen name Franklyn Farnum, was an American character actor and Hollywood extra who appeared in 433 productions between the years 1916 and 1961.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1878, Farnum became a vaudeville actor at the age of 12 and featured in a number of theatre and musical productions by the time he entered silent films near the age of 40. He appeared to be at his most comfortable in a saddle, his career dominated mostly by westerns. Some of his more famous films include the serial Vanishing Trails (1920) and the features The Clock (1917), The Firebrand (1922), The Drug Store Cowboy (1925) and The Gambling Fool (1925). In 1925, he left films, but returned five years later at the advent of sound, only to find himself billed much further down the credits, if billed at all. He continued on, however, in these obscure roles well into the 1950s.

One of his three wives was the ill-fated actress Alma Rubens whom he was briefly married to in 1918. He had one daughter, Martha Lillian Smith, who was born in 1898.

Along with actors Wallis Clark and Bess Flowers, Farnum appeared in five Academy Award for Best Picture winners, more than any other actor in history: The Life of Emile Zola (1937), The Lost Weekend (1945), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), All About Eve (1950), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956).

He died of cancer in Woodland Hills, California in 1961 at the age of 83.