
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.
Read more
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.
Start here
The best way into Kent Smith's work
First watchThe Spiral Staircase19467.0as Dr. ParryOn a stormy night, the mute servant to an ailing matriarch is stalked by a serial killer.View filmEssential films
Ranked by acclaim and reachFilmography
57 films as actor- 1978Die Sister, Die!Dr. Thorne
- 1974The Disappearance of Flight 412Gen. Enright
- 1973The Cat CreatureFrank Lucas
- 1973The AffairMr. Patterson
- 1973Lost HorizonBill Fergunson
- 1972The Female InstinctWarren Packer
- 1972Pete 'n' TillieFather Keating
- 1972The Judge and Jake WylerRobert Dodd
- 1972The Crooked HeartsJames Simpson
- 1972Another Part of the ForestSimon Isham
- 1972ProbeDr. Edward Laurent
- 1972The Night StalkerDistrict Attorney Tom Paine
- 1971The Last ChildGus Iverson
- 1970How Awful About AllanRaymond
- 1970The GamesKaverley
- 1969Death of a GunfighterAndrew Oxley
- 1968Kona CoastAkamai Barnes
- 1968Assignment to KillMr. Eversley
- 1967The Money JunglePaul Kimmel
- 1967GamesHarry Gordon
- 1967A Covenant with DeathOliver Parmalee
- 1966The Trouble with AngelsUncle George Clancy
- 1964The Young LoversDr. Shoemaker
- 1964Youngblood HawkePaul Winter Sr.
- 1964A Distant TrumpetSecretary of War
- 1963The BalconyGeneral
- 1962Moon PilotSecretary of the Air Force
- 1961Susan SladeDr. Fain
- 1960Strangers When We MeetStanley Baxter
- 1959This Earth Is MineFrancis Fairon
- 1958The MuggerDr. Pete Graham
- 1958Party GirlJeffrey Stewart
- 1958The BadlandersCyril Lounsberry
- 1958Imitation GeneralBrig. Gen. Charles Lane
- 1957SayonaraGen. Webster
- 1956ComancheQuanah Parker
- 1954King Richard IIBolingbroke
- 1952PaulaJohn Rogers
- 1950Little Women: Jo's StoryProfessor Fritz Bhaer
- 1950This Side of the LawDavid Cummins
- 1950The Damned Don't CryMartin Blackford
- 1950My Foolish HeartLewis H. Wengler
- 1949The FountainheadPeter Keating
- 1947The Voice of the TurtleKenneth Bartlett
- 1947Magic TownHoopendecker
- 1947Nora PrentissDr. Richard Talbot
- 1946The Spiral StaircaseDr. Parry
- 1944Youth Runs WildDanny Coates
- 1944Resisting Enemy InterrogationCapt. Reining - American Working for the Nazis
- 1944The Curse of the Cat PeopleOliver 'Ollie' Reed
- 1943Three Russian GirlsJohn Hill
- 1943This Land Is MinePaul Martin
- 1943Forever and a DayGates Trimble Pomfret
- 1943Hitler's ChildrenProfessor Nichols
- 1942Cat PeopleOliver Reed
- 1939Back Door to HeavenAttorney (uncredited)
- 1936The Garden Murder CaseWoode Swift







