Kurtwood Smith

Kurtwood Larson Smith was born on July 3, 1943, in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, USA, to George Smith and Mabel Annette Lund – Larson. Smith graduated from ‘Canoga Park High School’, California in 1961 and then studied B.A. in ‘San José State University’ from 1965. In 1969, he went on to study MFA from Stanford University.

Smith was married to Cecilia Souza from 1964 to 1974. He then married his current wife, Joan Prickle, on November 5, 1988. He has a daughter, Lauren Garber (born August 30, 1971) and a son Shannon Smith.

Like many other actors, Kurtwood Smith started his career on stage. He has the distinction of winning three ‘Drama-Logue Awards’ for his outstanding acting, in on-stage productions of ‘Billy Budd’, ‘Idiot’s Delight’, and ‘Green Grow the Lilacs’. In 1980 he made his movie debut with ‘Roadie’ where he had a minor role as a security guard. The same year he also made his TV debut with roles in the series’ ‘Soap’ and ‘Me and Maxx’. He followed this pattern for working simultaneously on TV and in movies successfully, throughout his career.

He continued auditioning for roles and in the next few years established himself as an actor with movies like ‘Going Berserk’ (1983) and ‘Flashpoint’ (1984), etc. It was his relative ease of playing both the bad guy in movies and also comedic characters, which slowly garnered the attention of the industry. Simultaneously, he continued his TV journey with, ‘Lou Grant’ (1980 – 1981) and ‘Renegades’ (1983). In the next years, Kurtwood Smith was cast in series, such as ‘The A-Team’, and movies like ‘Stir Crazy’ and ‘Deadly Messages’.

Kutwood Smith continued on a successful trajectory with roles in TV shows like ‘Stingray’ and the ‘Primetime Emmy Awards’ nominated miniseries ‘North and South’ in 1986. In 1987, he landed his first major role as Clarence Boddicker in the sci-fi classic movie ‘RoboCop’. He followed that up with appearances in blockbusters like ‘Rambo III’ (1988) and the ‘Academy Award’ winning ‘Dead Poets Society’ (1989).

Consequently, in the next few years, Smith continued building on his movie legacy with roles in movies like ‘Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country’ (1991), ‘The Crush’ (1993), and ‘Heart and Souls’ (1993). He also made several TV appearances both as an actor and voice actor in shows like ‘The Famous Teddy Z’ (1990) and ‘Eek! The Cat’ (1993 – 1996). In 1996, he made his return to the sci-fi universe with amazing performances in ‘The X Files’, ‘Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’, ‘Men in Black: The Series’, and ‘Star Trek: Voyager’.

Needless to say, by 1998 Kurtwood Smith was a name to be reckoned with, in Hollywood. In 1998, he landed the role of Red Forman in the cult-classic sitcom ‘That ’70s Show’ (1998 – 2006). It made him a sitcom star. In the next few years, Smith was seen more in TV shows like ‘3rd Rock From The Sun’ (1999), ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ (2002), and ‘Malcolm In The Middle’ (2004).