Kent Smith

This article is about the actor Kent Smith. For the California activist and Green politician, see Kent Warner Smith.

Kent Smith
File:Kent Smith 1953.JPG Kent Smith (1953)
Born	Frank Kent Smith (1907-03-19)March 19, 1907 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1936-1977
Spouse(s)	Edith Atwater (1962–1985; his death) Betty Gillette (1937–1954)
Children	1

Kent Smith (March 19, 1907 – April 23, 1985) was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theater, and television.

Biography and acting career

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.

His biggest successes occurred during the 1940s in films such as Cat People (1942), Hitler's Children (1943 film), This Land Is Mine (1943), Three Russian Girls (1943), Youth Runs Wild (1944), The Curse of the Cat People (1944), The Spiral Staircase (1946), Nora Prentiss (1947), Magic Town (1947), My Foolish Heart (1949), The Fountainhead (1949), and The Damned Don't Cry! (1950). He continued acting in films such as Comanche (1956), Sayonara (1957), Party Girl (1958), The Mugger (1958), Imitation General (1958), The Badlanders (1958), This Earth Is Mine (1959), Strangers When We Meet (1960), Susan Slade (1961), The Balcony (1963), A Distant Trumpet (1964), Youngblood Hawke (1964), The Young Lovers (1964), The Trouble with Angels (1966), A Covenant with Death (1967), Games (1967), The Money Jungle (1968), Kona Coast (1968), Assignment to Kill (1968), Death of a Gunfighter (1969), The Games (1970), Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), Die Sister, Die! (1972), Lost Horizon (1973) and Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977).

Smith had roles in television movies such as How Awful About Allan (1970), The Night Stalker (1972), The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972) and The Disappearance of Flight 412 (1974). His numerous television credits included a continuing role in the soap opera Peyton Place as Dr. Robert Morton; Smith's wife, actress Edith Atwater, played his character's wife on the series. He began guest-starring in television series in 1949 in The Philco Television 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, The Americans, Barnaby Jones, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, The Invaders, and the 1976 miniseries Once an Eagle. His last appearance was in a 1977 episode of Wonder Woman.

File:The Curse Of The Cat People trailer.jpg

Kent Smith and Simone Simon in Curse of the Cat People (1944).

On Broadway, he achieved success in Dodsworth (1934), Saint Joan (1936), Old Acquaintance (1941), Antony and Cleopatra (1948), and Bus Stop (1956).

Personal life

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.

External links

• Kent Smith at the Internet Broadway Database