{"id":303,"date":"2021-07-12T17:09:54","date_gmt":"2021-07-12T17:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/?p=303"},"modified":"2024-11-01T18:36:23","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T18:36:23","slug":"william-smith-actor-dies-at-88-3-cold-hard-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/2021\/07\/12\/william-smith-actor-dies-at-88-3-cold-hard-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"William Smith: Actor Dies At 88 (3 Cold Hard Facts)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_23000\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23000\" style=\"width: 500px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-23000 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"william smith\" width=\"500\" height=\"453\" data-src=\"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/william-smith.png\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-23000\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:William_smith_actor_1973.png\">Sequoia Pictures<\/a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Actor William Smith known for his many film and television roles since breaking into acting as a child star in the 1940s died on July 5, 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The 88 year old\u2019s cause of death is unknown; he died at the Motion Picture &amp; Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecoldwire.com\/tag\/california\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Smith was a fascinating person with a diverse background.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">William Smith, god-tier among the grindhouse greats, has left us. Tremendous screen presence. Who do you cast to make Clint Eastwood break a sweat in a fistfight? Who do you cast to play Conan The Barbarian\u2019s daddy? Who\u2019s the baddest of the movie badmen? William Smith. A legend. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/UJVpOSTted\">pic.twitter.com\/UJVpOSTted<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Daily Grindhouse (@DailyGrindhouse) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DailyGrindhouse\/status\/1413569291623014405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 9, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Here are three cold hard facts about William Smith.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. A Physical Actor Involved In Iconic Fight Scenes<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Smith was involved in a fight scene alongside Clint Eastwood in the 1980 movie <em>Any Which Way You Can.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>His character was a boxer named Jack Smith.<\/p>\n<p>The scene was long but choreographed well.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that neither Smith nor Eastwood used body doubles for the scene was confirmed by Smith in a 2014 interview.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/laredo-actor-william-smith-dies-025058711.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">He said:<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt has to be one of the longest two-man fights ever done on film without doubles.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Any Which Way You Can - Barfight\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QZ6Tlh9XA0U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>10 years before this scene, Smith had another legendary fight scene with Rod Taylor in\u00a0<em>Darker Than Amber.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>That one was so realistic that both Smith and Taylor suffered injuries during the filming of it.<\/p>\n<p>Smith had three broken ribs, and Taylor had a broken nose.<\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Darker Than Amber (1970) Brutal Fight Scene\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/S0igiQA5jvI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Other Notable Acting Credits<\/strong><\/h3>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p>Smith started in the 1940s as a child actor.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning at eight years old, he earned small, uncredited roles in the movies <em>The Ghost of Frankenstein<\/em> and <em>A Tree Grows in Brooklyn<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The roles he is most known for are Anthony Falconetti in the 1976 miniseries <em>Rich Man, Poor Man,\u00a0<\/em>and he appeared in the original <em>Hawaii Five-O<\/em> television series from 1979-1980 as Detective James \u201cKimo\u201d Carew.<\/p>\n<p>He also played Conan the Barbarian\u2019s (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) father in the 1982 film <em>Conan.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/phoefsutton\/status\/1413952547006545920<\/p>\n<p>He has 274 credited acting roles on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0810342\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">IMDB database<\/a> spanning almost 80 years and 30 credits for stunt work during a period of 33 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Succeeded Outside Of Acting Also<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Smith was a fascinating guy who had many interests that extended beyond acting.<\/p>\n<p>He could speak six languages which made him a valuable asset during his military service.<\/p>\n<p>As a member of the US Air Force, Smith was a veteran of the Korean War; he acted as a Russian Intercept Interrogator and flew secret ferret missions.<\/p>\n<p>He had both NSA and CIA clearances.<\/p>\n<p>Smith also was an accomplished athlete.<\/p>\n<p>At UCLA where he earned his Master\u2019s Degree, he was an elite discus thrower.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout his life, he was interested in bodybuilding and boxing.<\/p>\n<p>He was 31-1 in amateur boxing bouts and was also an accomplished arm wrestler, winning multiple championships in the 200-pound weight class.<\/p>\n<p>In 1995, Smith received a lifetime achievement award from the Academy of Bodybuilding and Fitness.<\/p>\n<p>Besides all of these skills and interests, Smith was a poet.<\/p>\n<p>In 2009, he published <i>The Poetic Works of William Smith<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Smith is survived by Joanne, his wife of 31 years, and his son, William E. Smith III and daughter, Sherri Anne Cervell.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecoldwire.com\/william-smith-dies\/\">William Smith: Actor Dies At 88 (3 Cold Hard Facts)<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecoldwire.com\">The Cold Wire<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sequoia Pictures, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons \u00a0 Actor William Smith known for his many film and television roles since breaking into acting as a child star in the 1940s died on July 5, 2021. The 88 year old\u2019s cause of death is unknown; he died at the Motion Picture &amp; Television Country House and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/de-evolutionize.me\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}