The actor known for Dallas and Papillon has died.
William Smithers is dead. PDO
Actor William Smithers has died on May 26 at the age of 98. He lived in Santa Barbara, and his death was reported Santa Barbara Independent. Smithers is remembered for example From Dallas and From Papillon.
Also popular in Finland in Dallas seasoned character actor Smithers portrayed the ruthless oilman Jeremy Wendell. The character gave a tough fight to his arch nemesis JR Ewing.
In his career, Smithers specialized in the roles of villains. For example, he visited the original in 1968 Star Trek in the episode Bread and Circusesin which he portrayed Captain RM Merik.
On the big screen, Smithers was seen in Robert Aldrich’s film Attack (1956), in which he played a principled infantry officer. He played a police captain in Ivan Dixon’s film Trouble Man (1972), a spy in Michael Winner’s film Scorpio (1973) and the inflexible prison guard Barrot in Franklin J. Schaffner’s film Papillon (1973).
Smithers was also involved Peyton Place in the series. He played Peyton Mill owner David Schuster from 1965 to 1966. During his career, he guest starred in numerous TV series, for example one that became well known in Finland Walker, from Texas in the series.
In the 1993 film Demolition Manwhich starred Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, the prison guard played by André Gregory was named William Smithers – apparently as a tribute.
A legal case
Smithers has left his mark on TV and film history in other ways. In 1976, he sued the MGM company after starring in the short-lived Executive Suite in the drama. In a highly publicized case, he claimed the studio had breached the contract. According to his contract – with three specifically named exceptions – no other actor could receive a higher salary or a more prominent name on the show than him.
An MGM executive reportedly threatened to tarnish her reputation in Hollywood if Smithers continued with the lawsuit, but she continued anyway. A jury and also the California Supreme Court decided the case in his favor.
– We won it big, Smithers said.
The Smithers v. MGM case is now taught in entertainment law courses.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, imdb.