Howard Smith
Birthday: Born in 1893-08-10 in Attleboro, Massachusetts, U.S.
Deathday: 1968-01-11
Howard Irving Smith (August 12, 1893 in – January 10, 1968) was an American character actor with a 50-year career in vaudeville, theater, radio, films and television. In 1938 he performed in Orson Welles's short-lived stage production and once-lost film, Too Much Johnson, and in the celebrated radio production, "The War of the Worlds". He portrayed Charley in the original Broadway production of Death of a Salesman and recreated the role in the 1951 film version. On television Smith portrayed the gruff Harvey Griffin in the situation comedy, Hazel.
TV Credits
Dolly
Character:
Dolly is a television variety show that ran on ABC during the 1987-1988 season featuring Dolly Parton....
Green Acres
Character:
Green Acres is an American sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a rural country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to Petticoat Junction, the series was first broadcast on CBS, from September 15, 1965 to April 27, 1971. Receiving solid ratings during its six-year run, Green Acres was cancelled in 1971 as part of the "rural purge" by CBS. The sitcom has been in syndication and is available in DVD and VHS releases. In 1997, the two-part ep...
Perry Mason
Character: Frank Warden
The cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent....
Studio One
Character: Lt. Haines
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
Bewitched
Character:
Samantha Stephens is a seemingly normal suburban housewife who also happens to be a genuine witch, with all the requisite magical powers. Her husband Darrin insists that Samantha keep her witchcraft under wraps, but situations invariably require her to indulge her powers while keeping her bothersome mother Endora at bay....
General Electric Theater
Character: Uncle Bob
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations....
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Character:
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The longest-running primetime series in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning during 1951 and continuing into 2013. From 1954 onward, all of its productions have been shown in color, although color television video productions were extremely rare in 1954. Many television movies have been shown on the program since its debut, ...
The Twilight Zone
Character: Misrell
A series of unrelated stories containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist....
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Character: Stanton C. Barryvale
A television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries....
Outlaws
Character:
Outlaws is an NBC Western television series, starring Barton MacLane as U.S. marshal Frank Caine, who operated in a lawless section of Oklahoma Territory about Stillwater. The program aired 50 one-hour episodes from September 29, 1960, to May 10, 1962. The first season was shot in black-and-white, the second in color. Co-starring with MacLane in the 1960–1961 season was Don Collier as deputy marshal Will Foreman. In the second season, MacLane left the program, and Collier was promoted to full ma...
Hazel
Character:
Hazel is an American sitcom about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 28, 1961 until April 11, 1966 and was produced by Screen Gems. The show aired on NBC for its first four seasons, and then on CBS for its final season. The first season, except for one color episode was in black and white, the remainder in color. The show was based on the popular single-panel comic strip by cartoonist T...
The Philco Television Playhouse
Character:
The Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956....
First Love
Character:
First Love is an American soap opera which ran on NBC Daytime from July 5, 1954 to December 30, 1955. The series aired at 4:15 p.m. EST, between Golden Windows and Concerning Miss Marlowe. Although the show had a strong fan following, at the time NBC had little use for developing any of their daytime shows and canceled First Love after a year and a half. Many cast members such as Patricia Barry, Val Dufour and Rosemary Prinz went on to become long-running daytime stars. Created by Adrian Samish...
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Character: Martin Fairweather
Wanted: Dead or Alive is an American Western television series starring Steve McQueen as the bounty hunter Josh Randall. It aired on CBS for three seasons from 1958–61. The black-and-white program was a spin-off of a March 1958 episode of Trackdown, a 1957–59 western series starring Robert Culp. Both series were produced by Four Star Television in association with CBS Television. The series launched McQueen into becoming the first television star to cross over into comparable status on the big ...
The Dakotas
Character:
The Dakotas is an ABC/Warner Brothers western television series starring Larry Ward and featuring Jack Elam broadcast during 1963. The short-lived program is considered a spin-off of Clint Walker's Cheyenne. The Dakotas is perhaps most notable for the fact that it was cancelled one week after heavy viewer protest over an objectionable scene....
Harrigan and Son
Character:
Harrigan and Son is an ABC sitcom about a father-and-son team of lawyers, played by Pat O'Brien and Roger Perry as Jim Harrigan, Sr., and Jim, Jr. In supporting roles, as secretaries, are Georgine Darcy as Gypsy and Helen Kleeb as Miss Claridge. The series aired 34 episodes at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Fridays from October 14, 1960, to September 29, 1961. It preceded ABC's cartoon series, The Flintstones. Its competition was the second half of the CBS Western, Rawhide. For the first half of the sea...
New York Confidential
Character:
New York Confidential is a British-American crime drama series that aired from 1958 to 1959. The series aired in syndicated in the United States and was broadcast on London's local ITV station, Associated-Rediffusion, in the UK. It was co-produced by ITC Entertainment, Metropolis Productions, Inc., and Television Programs of America....
Lights Out
Character:
Lights Out was an extremely popular American old-time radio program, an early example of a network series devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum. Versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. In 1946, NBC Television brought Lights Out to TV in a series of four specials, broadcast live and produced by Fred Coe, who also contribu...
General Electric Theater
Character: T.J. Wilson
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations....
Studio One
Character: Inch Ravel
An American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions....
Movie Credits
A Face in the Crowd
Character: J.B. Jeffries
The rise of a raucous hayseed named Lonesome Rhodes from itinerant Ozark guitar picker to local media rabble-rouser to TV superstar and political king-maker. Marcia Jeffries is the innocent Sarah Lawrence girl who discovers the great man in a back-country jail and is the first to fall under his spell....
Call Northside 777
Character: K.L. Palmer
In 1932, a cop is killed and Frank Wiecek sentenced to life. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank's mother leads Chicago reporter P.J. O'Neal to look into the case. For some time, O'Neal continues to believe Frank guilty. But when he starts to change his mind, he meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong....
I Bury the Living
Character: George Kraft
A newly appointed cemetery chairman believes that, merely by inserting a black plot-marking pin into a wall-sized map of the cemetery, he can cause the deaths of that plot's owner....
The Street with No Name
Character: Ralph Demory
After two gang-related killings in "Center City," a suspect (who was framed) is arrested, released on bail...and murdered. Inspector Briggs of the FBI recruits a young agent, Gene Cordell, to go undercover in the shadowy Skid Row area (alias George Manly) as a potential victim of the same racket. Soon, Gene meets Alec Stiles, neurotic mastermind who's "building an organization along scientific lines." Stiles recruits Cordell, whose job becomes a lot more dangerous....
Murder, Inc.
Character: Albert Anastasia
Chronicles the rise and fall of the organised crime syndicate known as Murder, Incorporated, focusing on powerful boss Lepke and violent hit man Reles....
The Caddy
Character: Golf Official
Although the son of a skilled golfer and an outstanding player in his own right, Harvey Miller is too nervous to play in front of a gallery, so he acts as coach and caddy for Joe Anthony, his girlfriend's brother....
Her Kind of Man
Character: Bill Fellows
A singer can't choose between a charismatic gangster and an honest newspaperman....
No Time for Sergeants
Character: Maj. Gen. Eugene Bush
Georgia farm boy Will Stockdale is about to bust with pride. He’s been drafted. Will’s ready. But is Uncle Sam ready for Will?...
Bon Voyage!
Character: Judge Henderson
The Willards from Terre Haute, Indiana travels abroad for the once-in-a-lifetime vacation in Paris, France. Harry Willard believes that the greatest problem will be avoiding tap water, but bringing his three children will prove to be more troublesome...
Death of a Salesman
Character: Charley
Willy Loman is an aging salesman who was recently fired from his job. Dealing with feelings of failure, Willy begins to relive events from the past that involve his older son, Biff, and his wife, Linda. Willy tries to learn from past mistakes and works to make amends with his family, but his biggest struggle is to make peace with himself over a failed dream of financial success....
Cry Murder
Character: Sen. Alden
A young actress has retired from films to marry the son of a prominent and rich politician in New York City. The father objects strongly to the marriage. The actress is being blackmailed by a second-rate artist who has stolen some letters from her that could be misconstrued. During the payoff, she is knocked unconscious, and awakens to find herself involved in a murder and the police have her marked as the number-one suspect....
Never Wave at a WAC
Character: Maj. Gen. Prentiss (uncredited)
A divorced socialite decides to join the Army because she hopes it will enable her to see more of her boyfriend, a Colonel. She soon encounters many difficulties with the Army lifestyle. Moreover, her ex-husband is working as a consultant with the Army, and he uses his position to disrupt her romantic plans by making her join a group of WACs who are testing new equipment....
Too Much Johnson
Character: Joseph Johnson
This film was not intended to stand by itself, but was designed as the cinematic aspect of Welles' Mercury Theatre stage presentation of William Gillette's 1894 comedy about a New York playboy who flees from the violent husband of his mistress and borrows the identity of a plantation owner in Cuba who is expecting the arrival of a mail order bride. The film component of the performance was ultimately never screened due to the absence of projection facilities at the venue. Long-believed to be los...
Don't Go Near the Water
Character: Admiral Junius Boatwright
Madison Avenue-trained Navy men handle public relations on a South Pacific island during World War II....
Face of Fire
Character: Sheriff Nolan
A local handyman saves a child in a fire, but the burns he receives disfigure his face so much that the townspeople avoid him....
State of the Union
Character: Sam I. Parrish
An industrialist is urged to run for President, but this requires uncomfortable compromises on both political and marital levels....
Wind Across the Everglades
Character: George Leggett
Set in the early 20th century, the film follows a game warden who arrives in Florida to enforce conservation laws. He soon finds himself pitted against Cottonmouth, the leader of a fierce group of bird poachers....
The Brass Bottle
Character: Senator Grindle
A genie tends to get his master into more predicaments than he gets him out of....
Kiss of Death
Character: Warden
An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge....
The Front Page
Character: Mayor
Earl Williams is set to hang tomorrow. When he escapes from his cell, reporter Hildy Johnson finds him, and thus seems likely to land the scoop of his career - only he's desperate to leave town tonight....