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William “Bill” Smith was born in Columbia, Missouri, on the 24th of March, 1933. After moving with his family to California as part of the Dust Bowl exodus, he started his acting career at the age of eight in 1942.
One of his roles that year was an uncredited village boy in the classic horror film “The Ghost of Frankenstein.”
After high school, he joined the Air Force. He served during the Korean War and flew secret missions over Russia while in the NSA (National Security Agency). He had both CIA and NSA clearance and intended to enter a classified position with the U.S. government. But he became more and more involved in being a much sought after actor and decided not to pursue a career in the government. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse and a Master’s Degree in Russian Studies from UCLA. He is fluent in Russian, Serbo-Croatian, French and German.
Bill is one of the best-known Hollywood characters with over 300 movie and television credits and still counting! Some of his more well known roles have been in “Any Which Way You Can” (1980) with Clint Eastwood, as well as in numerous cult biker classic as Run Angel Run (1969) and Angels Die Hard (1970).For all you geeky Inmates out there, you’ll remember him in “Grave of the Vampire” (9172) and “Invasion of the Bee Girls” (1973).
Interesting Tidbits —
1. Bruce Lee personally offered Smith the co-lead in “Enter The Dragon” (1973), but another film went over schedule and John Saxon stepped into the role.
2. He played in the final episode of the Batman TV series (1966-1968). **We will give a free LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP in the new MONSTER CLUB to the first three people who tell us what role he played.**
For more information on this fascinating Hollywood character actor and all around great guy, please visit his official website HERE.
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** Go HERE for more details on the MONSTER CLUB.
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