KURTWOOD SMITH

'Kurtwood Larson Smith' (born July 3, 1943) is an American television and film character actor. He is perhaps best known to modern audiences for his portrayal of Red Forman on the sitcom That '70s Show.

Contents

Biography

Personal life

Career

Filmography

References

External links

Biography

Personal life

Smith was born in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, the son of Mabel Annette Lund (née Larson) and George Smith.^[1] He was raised in Los Angeles, California. Smith's mother was a fan of a country singer named Kurt (or Curt) in the early 1940s. However, she thought "Kurt Smith" was too short a name, so she added "wood" ("she just tacked it on to the end," he said). Smith has said that he is likely the only Kurtwood.^[2]
Smith attended Canoga Park High School, where he was senior class president. He went on to study theater at the College of San Mateo and San Jose State University and earned a drama fellowship from Stanford University's Master of Fine arts program. In the 1970s, he began working regularly with the California Actors Theater in Los Gatos, California. He also attended Santa Clara University. He moved to back to Los Angeles to pursue a television and film career. In 1964, he married Cecilia Souza, with whom he had two children. He divorced in 1974. In 1988, he married Joan Pirkle.

Career

Smith may be best known as Red Forman on the Fox sitcom ''That '70s Show'', a role he played from 1998-2006. Significantly, Smith's career to date has been mostly in the realms of science fiction, where his most significant screen and television credits are to be found.
Before ''That '70s Show'' his other notable roles included playing Clarence Boddicker, the villain in Paul Verhoeven's influential science fiction action movie ''RoboCop''. He also made a number of notable appearances in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, playing the President of the Federation in '', a Cardassian named Thrax in the '' episode "Things Past", and a Krenim scientist named Annorax in the '' episode "Year of Hell".
He also has an extensive voice acting resumé, appearing in computer games such as , and FreeSpace 2, and on a number of animated series. He played a recurring role on the claymation series ''Gary & Mike'' as the vengeful Officer Dick and voiced the Dinosaur military commander character in the Savage Steve Holland produced Fox animated series ''Terrible Thunder Lizards''. He currently plays the voice of Bob Johnson on Squirrel Boy.

Filmography

★ ''House MD'' (2007)... Dr. Obyedkov

★ ''Psych'' (2007)... Captain Conners

★ ''Squirrel Boy'' (2006)... Robert "Bob" Johnson

★ ''Robot Chicken'' (TV) (2005)...Various Voices

★ ''Malcolm in the Middle'' (2004)... Principal Block

★ ''Everybody Loves Raymond'' (2002)... Famous Baseball Player

★ ''Teddy Bears' Picnic'' (2002) ... Secretary of Transportation, William Easter

★ ''Girl, Interrupted'' (1999) ... Dr. Crumble

★ ''That '70s Show'' (TV) (1998-2006) ... Red Forman

★ ''Deep Impact'' (1998) ... Otis Hefter

★ ''A Bright Shining Lie'' (1998) ... General Westmoreland

★ ''Prefontaine'' (1997) ... Curtis Cunningham

★ ''Shelter'' (1997) ... Tom Cantrell

★ ''The X-Files'' (TV 1996)... Agent Bill Patterson

★ ''Citizen Ruth'' (1996) ... Norm Stoney

★ ''Broken Arrow'' (1996) ... Secretary of Defense, Baird

★ ''A Time to Kill'' (1996) ... Stump Sisson

★ '' (1995) ... General Stanley Cooper

★ ''Last of the Dogmen'' (1995) ... Sheriff Deegan

★ ''To Die For'' (1995) ... Earl Stone

★ ''Dead on Sight'' (1994) ... Julian Thompson

★ ''Boxing Helena'' (1993) ... Doctor Alan Palmer

★ ''The Crush'' (1993) ... Cliff Forrester

★ ''Fortress'' (1993) ... Prison Director, Poe

★ ''Shadows And Fog'' (1992) ... Vogel's Follower

★ ''Company Business'' (1991) ... Elliot Jaffe, CIA

★ ''Oscar'' (1991) ... Lt. Toomey, Chicago PD

★ '' (1991) ... Federation President

★ ''Quick Change'' (1990) ... Russ Crane/Lombino

★ '' (1990) ... Myron Castleman

★ ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989) ... Mr. Perry

★ ''Heart of Dixie'' (1989) ...

★ ''The Nightmare Years'' (1989) ... Dr. Josef Goebbels

★ ''True Believer'' (1989) ... Robert Reynard

★ ''Rambo III'' (1988) ... Robert Griggs (embassy field officer)

★ ''The New Adventures of Beans Baxter'' ... Mr. Sue(leader of the evil spy agency U.G.L.I.[the Underground Government Liberation Intergroup])

★ ''RoboCop'' (1987) ... Clarence Boddicker

★ ''The Delos Adventure'' (1986) ... Arthur McNeil

★ ''Staying Alive'' (1983) ... Choreographer

★ ''Going Berserk'' (1983) ... Clarence

★ ''Zoot Suit'' (1981) ... Sergeant Smith

References

1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/55/Kurtwood-Smith.html
2. According to an interview with Smith on Caroline Rhea's syndicated television show

External links

★

★ Kurtwood Smith at TV.com

★ Kurtwood Smith at the NNDB