Paul L. Smith

Paul L. Smith
Smith in 1973
Born	Paul Lawrence Smith (1936-06-24)June 24, 1936 Everett, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	Ra'anana, Israel
Nationality	American, Israeli
Other names	Paul Smith Paul Lawrence Smith Bob Spencer Adam Eden
Alma mater	Brandeis University, Florida State University
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–1999
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Spouse(s)	Norma Kalman (m. 2024; div. 1960) Eve Smith (m. ? – 2012; his death)
Children	1

Paul Lawrence Smith (June 24, 1936 – April 25, 2012) was an American-Israeli actor and director. Burly, bearded and imposing, he appeared in feature films and occasionally on television since the 1960s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys. His most notable roles include Hamidou, the vicious prison guard in Midnight Express (1978), Bluto in Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), Gideon in the ABC miniseries Masada (1981), Glossu "Beast" Rabban in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Falkon in Red Sonja (1985). He was most frequently credited as Paul Smith or Paul L. Smith, but was also billed as P. L. Smith and Paul Lawrence Smith.

Career

Smith's first acting role, at age 24, was in Otto Preminger's 1960 epic Exodus, which was filmed in Israel. This was his first visit to the country. In 1967, Smith returned to Israel as a Mahal volunteer in the Six-Day War and remained for six years, appearing in locally filmed features and television productions. He received director credit on the 1970 documentary Milhemet 20 HaShanim (War of 20 Years) and the 1972 crime drama Jacko Vehayatzaniot (Jacko and the Prostitute or Tel Aviv Call Girls).

Between 1973 and 1977, Smith made a series of films with Michael Coby (pseudonym of Antonio Cantafora). Smith played Bud Spencer-like characters while Coby was a Terence Hill lookalike in Bud & Terence-fashion. One of these films, Convoy Buddies, was selected for American release by Film Ventures International, and producer Edward L. Montoro changed Smith's name to "Bob Spencer" and Cantafora's name to "Terrance Hall". Smith sued, successfully arguing that an actor's name recognition is vital to his career. The judicial system agreed and ruled against FVI, which paid Smith damages and court costs.

Smith made appearances in such films as 21 Hours at Munich (1976), Midnight Express (1978), as Bluto in Popeye (1980), and as Glossu Rabban in Dune (1984). On television, he appeared in such established series as Emergency!, CHiPS, Wonder Woman, Barney Miller and Hawaii Five-O.

Personal life

On April 25, 2012, Smith died in Ra'anana from undisclosed causes, at the age of 75.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1960	Exodus	Jewish Prisoner Peretz Geffner	Uncredited
1970	Madron	Gabe Price	Uncredited
1971	Fishke Bemilu'im	Shmil
1972	Nahtche V'Hageneral
	Jacko Vehayatzaniot
1973	Koreyim Li Shmil	Shmiel
	Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus	Peter
1974	Moses the Lawgiver	Rebel	TV miniseries
	Carambola!	Clem Rodovam
1975	Carambola's Philosophy: In the Right Pocket	Len
	Convoy Buddies	Butch
	We Are No Angels	Raphael McDonald
1976	The Diamond Peddlers	Simone / Toby
	21 Hours at Munich	Gutfreund	TV movie
1978	Return of the Tiger	Paul the Westerner
	Midnight Express	Hamidou
1979	The In-Laws	Mo
	The Frisco Kid	Person on Philadelphia dock	Uncredited
	Disaster on the Coastliner	Jim Waterman	TV movie
	Going in Style	Radio Announcer
1980	Popeye	Bluto
1981	Masada	Gideon	TV miniseries
	The Salamander	The Surgeon
	When I Am King	Sir Blackstone Hardtack
1982	Pieces	Willard
1983	Sadat	King Farouk	TV miniseries
	Raiders in Action	Saul the Priest
1984	Mivtza Shtreimel
	Jungle Warriors	Cesar Santiago
	Dune	Glossu Rabban
1985	Crimewave	Faron Crush
	The Protector	Mr. Booar	Uncredited
	Red Sonja	Falkon
1986	Sno-Line	Duval
	Haunted Honeymoon	Dr. Paul Abbot
1987	Gor	Surbus
	Terminal Entry	Stewart
1988	Outlaw Force	Inspector Wainright
	Death Chase	Steele
1989	Ochlim Lokshim
	Sonny Boy	Slue
	Ten Little Indians	Elmo Rodgers
	Nipagesh Basafari	Paul
	The Hired Gun	Wounded Man
1990	Crossing the Line	Joe Kapinski
	Caged Fury	Head Guard
1991	Eye of the Widow	Elko
1992	Desert Kickboxer	Santos
1994	Maverick	Archduke
2008	Paul Smith: The Reddest Herring	Himself	Extended interview with star Paul L. Smith featured on the North American DVD release of Pieces, where he discusses the film, his life, and career

Discography

• I'm Mean (1980)

External links

• Paul L. Smith at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul L. Smith at AllMovie