Deaths 2022

Deaths 2021

Deaths 2020

Deaths 2019

Deaths 2018

Deaths 2017

Deaths 2016

Deaths 2015

Deaths 2014

Deaths 2013

Deaths 2012

Deaths 2011

Deaths 2010

Deaths 2009


Full list by date of death

William Smith

Actor

Born - 24 March 1933, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Died - 5 July 2021

Tall, big-built, moustachioed, ever-smiling, tough-looking actor, a former child player who was often seen in adult life in humorous action roles. A formidable athlete, he was in turn, a weightlifter, skier, boxer, footballer and kung fu fighter who was also twice world arm-wrestling champion. After Korean War service, he resumed an acting career, at first in TV series, but later in films, the best recalled of his roles probably being battler Jack Wilson, taking on Clint Eastwood in a bareknuckle brawl in Any Which Way You Can (1980). Scores of movie credits included The Ghost of Frankenstein (1941), Pardon My Sarong (1942), The Song of Bernadette (1943), Meet Me in St Louis (1944), A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945), Gilda (1946), I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947), The Boy With Green Hair (1948), Idols in the Dust (1951), Sudden Fear (1952), Never So Few (1959), Ask Any Girl (1959), Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961), West of Montana (1963), 36 Hours (1964), Three Guns for Texas (1967), The Banditos (1968), Angels Die Hard (1970), Darker Than Amber (1970), Summertree (1971), The Thing With Two Heads (1972), The Deadly Trackers (1973), The Last American Hero (1973), The Black Bounty Killer (1974), Dr Minx (1975), Scorchy (1976), Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977), The Frisco Kid (1979), Seven (1979), Conan the Barbarian (1981), The Outsiders (1983), Rumble Fish (1983), Red Dawn (1984), The Mean Season (1985), Eye of the Tiger (1986), Bulletproof (1987), Maniac Cop (1988), The Final Sanction (1990), The Roller Blade Seven (1991), Shadow of the Dragon (1992), Maverick (1994), Judee Strange (1995), Hollywood Cops (1997), Inspector Gadget (1999), Never Look Back (2000), The Vampire Hunters Club (2001), Body Shop (2002), Dead Man's Bluff (2004), Inner Rage (2006), Rapturious (2007), Her Morbid Desires (2008), Tiger Cage (2012), Island of Witches (2014), Irresistible (2020), his last, and dozens more. Smith spoke six languages including Russian. His 80 year film career is believed to be the longest in Hollywood history.