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Kent Smith

Actor

Kent Smith

Born March 19, 1907 in New York City, New York, USADied April 23, 198557 films

Kent Smith (born Frank Kent Smith) was an American stage, screen, and television actor.

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Smith's early acting experience started in 1925 when he was one of the founders of the famed Harvard "University Players", which later included Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Joshua Logan and Margaret Sullavan in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Smith's stock experience also included productions with the Maryland Theatre in Baltimore. His professional acting debut was in 1929 in Blind Window in Baltimore, Mayland. He made his Broadway acting debut in 1932 in Men Must Fight. He also appeared on Broadway in Measure for Measure, Sweet Love Remembered, The Best Man, Ah, Wilderness!, Dodsworth, Saint Joan,, Old Acquaintance, Antony and Cleopatra and Bus Stop.

Smith moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The Garden Murder Case.

He appeared in such films as Cat People, Hitler's Children, This Land Is Mine, Three Russian Girls, Youth Runs Wild, The Curse of the Cat People, The Spiral Staircase, Nora Prentiss, Magic Town, My Foolish Heart, The Fountainhead, and The Damned Don't Cry. He continued acting in films such as Comanche, Sayonara, Party Girl, The Mugger, Imitation General, The Badlanders, This Earth Is Mine, Strangers When We Meet, Susan Slade, The Balcony, A Distant Trumpet, Youngblood Hawke, and The Young Lovers.

Smith had roles in television films such as How Awful About Allan, The Night Stalker, The Judge and Jake Wyler, The Cat Creature, The Affair and The Disappearance of Flight 412. 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, The Beverly Hillbillies, Rawhide, The Americans, Barnaby Jones, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, and the 1976 miniseries Once an Eagle. His last appearance was in a 1977 episode of Wonder Woman.

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The best way into Kent Smith's work
The Spiral Staircase posterFirst watchThe Spiral Staircase19467.0as Dr. ParryOn a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.View film

Essential films

Ranked by acclaim and reach

Filmography

57 films as actor
  1. 1978Die Sister, Die!Dr. Thorne
  2. 1974The Disappearance of Flight 412Gen. Enright
  3. 1973The Cat CreatureFrank Lucas
  4. 1973The AffairMr. Patterson
  5. 1973Lost HorizonBill Fergunson
  6. 1972The Female InstinctWarren Packer
  7. 1972Pete 'n' TillieFather Keating
  8. 1972The Judge and Jake WylerRobert Dodd
  9. 1972The Crooked HeartsJames Simpson
  10. 1972Another Part of the ForestSimon Isham
  11. 1972ProbeDr. Edward Laurent
  12. 1972The Night StalkerDistrict Attorney Tom Paine
  13. 1971The Last ChildGus Iverson
  14. 1970How Awful About AllanRaymond
  15. 1970The GamesKaverley
  16. 1969Death of a GunfighterAndrew Oxley
  17. 1968Kona CoastAkamai Barnes
  18. 1968Assignment to KillMr. Eversley
  19. 1967The Money JunglePaul Kimmel
  20. 1967GamesHarry Gordon
  21. 1967A Covenant with DeathOliver Parmalee
  22. 1966The Trouble with AngelsUncle George Clancy
  23. 1964The Young LoversDr. Shoemaker
  24. 1964Youngblood HawkePaul Winter Sr.
  25. 1964A Distant TrumpetSecretary of War
  26. 1963The BalconyGeneral
  27. 1962Moon PilotSecretary of the Air Force
  28. 1961Susan SladeDr. Fain
  29. 1960Strangers When We MeetStanley Baxter
  30. 1959This Earth Is MineFrancis Fairon
  31. 1958The MuggerDr. Pete Graham
  32. 1958Party GirlJeffrey Stewart
  33. 1958The BadlandersCyril Lounsberry
  34. 1958Imitation GeneralBrig. Gen. Charles Lane
  35. 1957SayonaraGen. Webster
  36. 1956ComancheQuanah Parker
  37. 1954King Richard IIBolingbroke
  38. 1952PaulaJohn Rogers
  39. 1950Little Women: Jo's StoryProfessor Fritz Bhaer
  40. 1950This Side of the LawDavid Cummins
  41. 1950The Damned Don't CryMartin Blackford
  42. 1950My Foolish HeartLewis H. Wengler
  43. 1949The FountainheadPeter Keating
  44. 1947The Voice of the TurtleKenneth Bartlett
  45. 1947Magic TownHoopendecker
  46. 1947Nora PrentissDr. Richard Talbot
  47. 1946The Spiral StaircaseDr. Parry
  48. 1944Youth Runs WildDanny Coates
  49. 1944Resisting Enemy InterrogationCapt. Reining - American Working for the Nazis
  50. 1944The Curse of the Cat PeopleOliver 'Ollie' Reed
  51. 1943Three Russian GirlsJohn Hill
  52. 1943This Land Is MinePaul Martin
  53. 1943Forever and a DayGates Trimble Pomfret
  54. 1943Hitler's ChildrenProfessor Nichols
  55. 1942Cat PeopleOliver Reed
  56. 1939Back Door to HeavenAttorney (uncredited)
  57. 1936The Garden Murder CaseWoode Swift