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Above left: Sydney Smith, Ted De Corsia, Marion Shockley
and Santos Ortega in radio's Ellery Queen
DuPont's Cavalcade of America was created, in part, to counter accusations of profiteering by the chemical company during the First World War. The long running anthology built an awesome body of work for several actors during its run from 1935 to 1953. Smith was a frequent part of the company between 1944 and the end of the run. He found more literature related mystery work on Crime Club (1947), where the audience would come into the mysterious library to hear the weeks story of murder.
Now he also got parts in Life Can Be Beautiful, Rosemary (1944-45) and the lead in Richard Lawless (1946), Real Stories from Real Life (1947).
TV started showing interest and he was asked in the sketch show The Admiral
Broadway Revue (1949), Mama
(1949) and an episode called 'The Champion'
(1950) from Robert Montgomery Presents
starting a TV career which would last until 1968.
In 1950 he returned for to the stage in the comedy The Curious Savage (as dr. Emmett). In The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, (April 1951) a play based on a Mark Twain story and directed by Ezra Stone the plot centered about a town and the man who corrupted it. It had a large cast of about 50 people headed by Russel Collins, Mabel Taliofero, Jonathan Harris, Sydney Smith,...
He also did two minor role in English movies before TV gave him regular guest roles, Highway Patrol (1956), Cheyenne (1957), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1957), General Electric Theater (1957), The Man Called X (1957) to name a few.
Perhaps in light of his TV work in 1957, the Smiths moved to Hollywood, California. In 1957 he was seen in cinema's as Judge Frisbee in Gerd Oswald's Valerie opposite Sterling Hayden and Anita Ekberg.
Back on stage on the East Coast as Junius Brutus Booth, the younger in the play Edwin Booth, performed at 46th Street Theatre, by the end of 1958.
Mike Hammer (1958), M Squad (1958), Rescue 8 (1958-59), Wanted: Dead or Alive (1960), The Untouchables (1962), The Virginian (1962), Ben Casey (1962) all provided notable guest roles. But his most recurring roles het got playing (different) judges on the Perry Mason series (between 1958 and 1964) and on Bonanza (1963-1968).
He became college associate professor and taught in the theatre-arts department at Northern Illinois University from 1969 until his retirement in 1976. Sydney then moved from DeKalb, Illinois to Seattle.
Sydney Smith passed away in King (Seattle), Washington on
March 4. 1978. A memorial fund in his name was established at the Leukemia Fund
Tumor Institute at Swedish Hospital. |
![]() Other references (1) OTRRpedia (2) TV.com (3) IMDb (4) IBDB (5) Otrcat.com (6) Radiogoldindex Additional video & audio sources (1) OldTimeRadioDownloads |
This actor profile is a part of
Ellery Queen a website on deduction.
The actor above played Ellery Queen in
an Ellery Queen radio series.
Click Uncle Sam if you think you can help
out...! Many of the profiles on this site have been compiled after very careful research of various sources. Please quote and cite ethically! Editorial remark: At the moment of making this page (Dec 2016) several sources mistakenly place his birth in Quebec. I'm sure during the coming months this will be corrected. It also makes the exact date of his birth unsure as it wasn't confirmed. Nor the fact that he was indeed married once before his marriage to Ester Ott. |
Page first published on December 23. 2016 Last updated February 19, 2022 |
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