| Ray Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | Raymond Smith 1 May 1936 Trealaw, Wales |
| Died | 15 December 1991 (aged 55) Llandough, Wales |
| Occupation | Television actor |
Ray Smith (1 May 1936 - 15 December 1991) was a Welsh actor who notably played the tough-talking police chief, Detective Superintendent Gordon Spikings, in the television series, Dempsey & Makepeace.
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Smith was born in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley but lived most of his adult life in Dinas Powys. He became interested in acting while at school and was determined not to become a miner like his father who had been killed in a pit accident when Smith was only three years old. After leaving school he became a builder's labourer and, after national service in the Army, obtained an acting role at The Prince of Wales Theatre in Cardiff. He then joined the Swansea Grand Theatre as an assistant stage manager.
After moving to London, Smith spent a year unemployed, before landing a part in a play about a Hungarian uprising. The acting jobs then followed thick and fast, but it was to be in television that he would make his mark.
Smith made his TV debut in Shadows of Heroes in 1959, and appearances in series such as Z-Cars and A Family at War made him known to the public. He also appeared as Detective Insp. Firbank in Public Eye, which started in 1971. Two years later came one of his most famous roles, as George Barraclough in Sam one of Granada Television's northern drama series. The programme featured Mark McManus in the leading role of Sam.
He had a busy and successful stage career in addition to British film and TV roles before achieving celebrity through the Spikings character.
Ray Smith died at the age of 55 in Llandough Hospital after a major heart attack. He had been shooting one of the last scenes in the television adaptation of Kingsley Amis' novel The Old Devils. Taken ill on location in Newport Ray was driven to hospital but checked himself out after a few hours because he did not want to hold up the production. Ironically the scenes that were being shot in Newport involved the death of Amis' main character Alun Weaver (played by John Stride).
Ray Smith died before the series was shown on BBC2. An onscreen credit by director Tristram Powell, producer Adrian Mourby and writer Andrew Davies dedicated the series to Ray Smith. This final performance as Charlie, the good-hearted alcoholic sage, won him a posthumous BAFTA Cymru Award (Best Actor) in 1992.
His son was the musician Huw Justin Smith, a.k.a. Pepsi Tate.