Kent Smith
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- This article is about the actor Kent Smith. For the California activist and Green politician, see Kent Warner Smith.
Kent Smith (March 19, 1907 – April 23, 1985) was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theater and television.
Born Frank Kent Smith in New York, New York, Smith made his acting debut on Broadway in 1932 in Men Must Fight and after spending a few years there, moved to Hollywood, California where he made his film debut in The Garden Murder Case. Initially he was groomed to play leading roles in "B" pictures, usually as solid and dependable types, or as the friend or rival for the heroine's affections in more prestigious films. As he aged quickly, turning grey quite young, he moved into character roles.
His biggest successes occurred during the 1940s in films such as Cat People (1942), Hitler's Children (1943), This Land is Mine (1943), Youth Runs Wild (1944), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Spiral Staircase, (1946), Nora Prentiss (1947), Magic Town (1947), The Fountainhead (1949), My Foolish Heart (1949) and The Damned Don't Cry! (1950). He continued acting in supporting roles from the 1950s in films such as A Distant Trumpet and made his final film appearance in Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977).
On Broadway he achieved success in Dodsworth (1934), Saint Joan (1936), Old Acquaintance (1941), Antony and Cleopatra (1948), and Bus Stop (1956).
His numerous television credits include a continuing role in the soap opera Peyton Place as well as featured roles in the television movies The Judge and Jake Wyler, The Night Stalker and The Snoop Sisters (all in 1972). He began guest starring in television series in 1949 in The Philco Playhouse and also appeared in Robert Montgomery Presents, Wagon Train, General Electric Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, Have Gun Will Travel, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, Barnaby Jones and The Invaders. His last appearance was in a 1977 episode of Wonder Woman.
Smith was married to the actress Betty Gillette from 1937 until 1954, and to the actress Edith Atwater from 1962 until his death from congestive heart failure in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 78.
