Kent Smith

Kent Smith

1907-03-19

Biography

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

Also appears in

The Curse of the Cat People

The Curse of the Cat People

6.2

The Spiral Staircase

The Spiral Staircase

7.0

Lost Horizon

Lost Horizon

5.4

The Night Stalker

The Night Stalker

6.8

Cat People

Cat People

6.9

The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead

6.8

The Trouble with Angels

The Trouble with Angels

6.6

Party Girl

Party Girl

6.8

Sayonara

Sayonara

6.6

The Damned Don’t Cry

The Damned Don’t Cry

7.1

This Land Is Mine

This Land Is Mine

7.0

Death of a Gunfighter

Death of a Gunfighter

6.4

The Badlanders

The Badlanders

6.2

Strangers When We Meet

Strangers When We Meet

6.4

Pete ’n’ Tillie

Pete ’n’ Tillie

5.5

How Awful About Allan

How Awful About Allan

6.1

A Distant Trumpet

A Distant Trumpet

5.2

Moon Pilot

Moon Pilot

5.4

This Side of the Law

This Side of the Law

4.7

Forever and a Day

Forever and a Day

7.2