William Smithers

Although character actor William (or Bill) Smithers is not recognizable perhaps by name, the face is definitely familiar especially to baby boomer TV fans. A smart, articulate, well-groomed actor with noticeably premature gray hair, Smithers is probably best remembered for his on-again, off-again role as arch-villain Jeremy Wendell who frequently crossed paths with J.R. Ewing on Dallas (1978) from 1981-1985. Avid Trekkies will also remember his role as Capt. Merrick in the original Star Trek (1966) series. Born in Richmond, Virginia, on July 10, 1927, Smithers received his initial break on stage, making his Broadway debut and winning a Theatre World Award for his performance as Tybalt in "Romeo and Juliet" in 1951. Olivia de Havilland, who played Juliet, also made her Broadway bow in that production. The following year Smithers joined the Actors Studio and became a major exponent of Lee Strasberg's "Method" style of acting. He continued to win acclaim on the stage, earning an Obie award in 1957 for Best Actor for his portrayal of Treplev in the off-Broadway production of "The Sea Gull". Smithers made a successful feature film debut in 1956 as a harried infantry officer in Robert Aldrich's acclaimed war drama Attack (1956), but would make only a handful of large-screen appearances after that, including Trouble Man (1972), Papillon (1973), Scorpio (1973) and Deathsport (1978). Television, of course, was a different story. Smithers has appeared or guest-starred in nearly 400 programs in his nearly five-decade-long career. Often called to play serious-minded executives and other such authority figures, he had a real penchant for playing oily villains. You could find his unscrupulous, cold-hearted white collars on any given 1960s or 1970s crime series - Mission: Impossible (1966), The F.B.I. (1965), Mannix (1967), Mod Squad (1968), The Name of the Game (1968) and Barnaby Jones (1973), to name a few. Last seen on camera in the early 1990s (a 1994 episode of "Walker, Texas Ranger"), Smithers is highly regarded as a teacher and for his acting seminars at colleges and universities. For years Smithers instructed alongside second wife, noted acting teacher S. Lorraine Hull (aka Lorrie Hull Smithers), who taught for many years at the Strasberg Institute.