Lane Smith
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Lane Smith, full name Walter Lane Smith (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was a U.S. character actor. He is best known for his performance as Perry White in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman as well as playing Richard Nixon in The Final Days for which he received a Golden Globe award nomination for best actor in a mini-series or motion picture made for television in 1990.
Career
Smith was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1936. He graduated from The Leelanau School, a boarding school in Glen Arbor, Michigan (where he is enshrined in that school's Hall of Fame) and spent one year boarding at The Hill School before going off to study at the Actors Studio in the late 1950s and early 1960's along with Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino. After his graduation, he found steady work in New York theater before making his film debut in Maidstone in 1970. During the 1970's, he regularly made appearances in small film roles including Rooster Cogburn in 1975 and Network in 1976. He also acted on television, notably playing a U.S. Marine in Vietnam in the made for television miniseries A Rumor of War.
He made a major breakthrough in 1984 with significant roles in Red Dawn, Places in the Heart and the television series V. Smith earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Richard Nixon in the 1989 docudrama The Final Days. He also appeared in the original stage production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross enjoying a lengthy run.
In 1990, he appeared in Air America playing a U.S. Senator. In 1992, he played a small-town district attorney opposite Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny, followed by a role as Coach Jack Reilly in The Mighty Ducks. Smith played his biggest role in his career as Perry White in Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman between 1993 and 1997. His final film appearance was in The Legend of Bagger Vance in 2000.
Filmography
Smith played 100 roles in film and television productions between 1970 and 2003. His most notable roles include:
- Nathan Bates in V 1984
- Dr. Joseph Fitzgerald, a distant descendant of John F. Kennedy in Profile in Silver, from The New Twilight Zone television series 1986
- Richard Nixon in The Final Days 1989
- D.A. Jim Trotter, III in My Cousin Vinny 1992
- Coach Jack Reilly in The Mighty Ducks 1992
- Dick Dodge in The Distinguished Gentleman 1992
- Walter Warner in Son-in-Law 1993
- Perry White in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman 1993-1997
- Emmett Seaborn in From the Earth to the Moon 1998
- Sean Clayton in The East York Striker 2003
Trivia
In a second-season episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Top Copy, a woman reveals Clark's identity, but everyone just thinks she's insane, especially after Clark has his press conference where both he and Superman show up. During this episode, after the woman reveals Superman's identity, Jimmy remarks that he thought they looked similar but never thought they were the same. Lane Smith's Character, Perry White, responds with "Well, heh, people say I look like Richard Nixon, but I ain't ever been to the White House." This is obviously referring to Smith's role in "The Final Days"
Death
Smith was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease in April 2005 and died of the disease at his home in Northridge, California on June 13, 2005. He was 69 years old.
References
- Leonard Maltin et al Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Career Profiles of more than 2,000 Actors and Filmmakers Past and Present Plume Books 1995 ISBN 0-452-27058-8
External links
- Template:Imdb name
- Biography
- All Movie Guide article on Lane Smith
- San Jose Mercury News report on his death
- ABC Television Southern California obituary of Lane Smith
- Moviehole news storyde:Lane Smith
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .
