Howard Smith (actor)

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Howard Irving Smith^[1] was born August 12, 1893, in Attleboro, Massachusetts,^[2] to parents George H. Smith and Sybelle Pollard Smith.^[3]

Smith began as a concert singer, but his hopes of an opera career were ended after his service in the 77th Infantry Division in World War I. Enrico Caruso suggested that he try a musical act in vaudeville. He formed a team with his friend Harry Meeker, and later as a comedian, he shared bills with Frank Fay, Sophie Tucker, James Barton, and Bessie Clayton.^[4]

In 1928, with big-time vaudeville ending, Smith landed a job on radio's popular The Collier Hour, and received $35 for three minutes work. His radio career continued with The March of Time, Cavalcade of America, Forty Minutes in Hollywood and Crime Doctor.^[4] Smith created the role of Sergeant Velie in The Adventures of Ellery Queen.^[5] He played the role of Will Brown, Homer's father, on radio's The Aldrich Family^[6] and later reprised the role on the NBC television series.^[7]

A member of the repertory company of Orson Welles's CBS Radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air and The Campbell Playhouse, Smith played the role of the ill-fated bomber commander in the 1938 production of "The War of the Worlds".^[8][9] Smith appears as Cuban plantation owner Joseph Johnson in Welles's rediscovered film Too Much Johnson — slapstick sequences that were to be integrated into a theatre production that was briefly staged in August 1938 before it was shelved.^{[10][11]: 50, 152–153}

After New York stage appearances in Solitaire, Decision, and Dear Ruth, Smith created the role of Charley in the original Broadway production of Death of a Salesman.^[12] He may be best remembered for his recreation of the role in the 1951 screen version.^[13]

His other film credits include Kiss of Death, Call Northside 777, The Street with No Name, State of the Union, A Face in the Crowd, and No Time for Sergeants.^[14] He made his film debut in 1918, in Young America.^[15]

On television, Smith played the overbearing boss Oliver Misrell in The Twilight Zone first-season episode, "A Stop at Willoughby" (1960), and also appeared in the 1962 episode, "Cavender Is Coming". In 1962, he was cast in the Perry Mason season-six episode, "The Case of the Unsuitable Uncle", as character Frank Warden.

He was regularly featured on the 1960s TV series Hazel, as George Baxter's gruff client Harvey "Harv" Griffin.^[16][15]

His wife, actress and singer Lillian Boardman, died in 1953.^[4] Smith died January 10, 1968, in Hollywood, following a heart attack.^[15]: 239 He was cremated and his ashes are buried at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.^[4]