The Legendary Manliness of William Smith
I’ve had these notes sitting around my work desk for the better part of two months, unclear of exactly how to do justice to a man who has accomplished so much both on and off the screen. Listing one’s successes does little to highlight a persons true contributions to society but in this ADD-infused world that we live in it often times forces writers like myself to condense what appeared to be a lofty paper into something well under 1000 words. Oh shit, I’m already at 85!
So it is with some regret but mostly relief that I have shortened this “too long to read while taking a crap” post into something that can be read during your lunch break or while committing yourself to the dumpatorium.
The Man
William Smith, who celebrates his birthday 83rd birthday today, has appeared in nearly 300 films and television shows during his illustrious career. But even with a staggering number like that to his credit, it’s his life away from the screen that had me thinking, “Is William Smith the manliest man ever?”
Despite the fact that Smith spent time in the Air Force during the Korean War and was an intelligence expert for what would become the NSA, his unbelievable physical prowess is only matched by his incredible mental capacity. Smith was a valuable asset during the Cold War days because not only was he an expert in Russian, but he was fluent in five different languages. Bill earned his Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University and a Masters from UCLA but to call him a nerd would put you at risk of getting the ass-whoopin’ of a lifetime.
Smith’s time in the Air Force gave him other opportunities to push his body to the extreme. He was a light-heavyweight boxing champion, a champion discus thrower at UCLA, 2-time 200-lbs world arm wrestling champion, once reverse curled 163 lbs and did 5,100 continuous sit-ups. Bill trained Kenpo with instructor Ed Parker and also has a Black Belt in Kung Fu. Just listing these things out make me feel like less of a man.
The Myth
William’s athletic career had many different paths. A short stint as a professional football player in Germany, and competitive downhill skiing and motocross are nothing to sneeze at, but his bodybuilding may be what got him the eye of Hollywood. Smith had intended, after the Korean War, to get a position working for the U.S. Government but he quickly started getting more and more work as and actor and soon found himself as a regular on shows like The Asphalt Jungle and Laredo. His 6’2″ frame as so physically imposing that he was able to become one of the “go to” bad guys for shows like Miami Vice and Kung Fu.William was born to do the Western genre, though, as he is actually a direct descendant of Old West legends Kit Carson and Daniel Boone.
William Smith is as close to a living, breathing version of Doc Savage as you’ll ever find (with a possible exception of Theodore Roosevelt) but it’s also that perfect combination of brains and brawn that made critics call him the “greatest bad-guy character actor of all time.” You believed he could do what he did on screen because if there was no director there to yell “CUT!” a crew member would have had to standby with a tranquilizer gun to stop Smith from terrorizing the film’s good guys. Bill was the acting equivalent of musical legend Johnny Cash. Their images were re-enforced by the sincerity of their badassness.If you’ve ever seen Smith opposite Clint Eastwood in Any Which Way You Can you will notice just how charismatic of a villain Smith could be. How many guys could hold their own next to Dirty Harry?
What many don’t know is that William was personally offered the role made popular by John Saxon in the martial arts classic Enter the Dragon. It was due to scheduling issues that kept them from agreeing to the partnership but you can be damn sure that Smith, Bruce Lee, and Jim Kelly would have killed it on screen together.
The Legend
Smith’s coolness led him to be the final version of The Marlboro Man to be seen in a television commercials as well. Marketing firms knew, much like the rest of the world, that William Smith’s aura of Manliness was bigger than what kind of cigarette was in his mouth. It was bigger than the motorcycle that he rode on or the beautiful woman who wrapped her arms around his waist. It wasn’t something that he sprayed on himself that made him seem so badass. It was a lifetime of fighting wildfires, fighting biker gang members, and graduating Cum Laude that engineered the man that William became. Smith’s coolness oozed out of him and threatened to make anyone close enough “cooler” just by proxy. That’s a whole lot of man, folks.
This guy sounds like a bullshit artist as much as an actor. Everything he’s done is superlative unless it was done in front of the camera and then it’s strictly B list stuff.
Several movies listed on IMDB are uncredited roles – specifically roles in well known, successful movies.
He’s apparently serving in the USAF and NSA and acting and going to school to earn a Master’s degree in Russian and teaching Russian all at about the same time. I’d like to see his DD214. I’ll bet money it would have very little in it and he’d attribute the lack of information to it being top secret or classified.
He cites a marriage to a French actress as the reason for a lost security clearance – at a time when France was an ally so no real reason to lose a clearance.
He cites the loss of a family farm in the 30s due to the Dust Bowl. The only problem is that the Dust Bowl was no where near the stated family farm location of Columbia, MO.
And records – none of which are official but all eclipse the official records of the time.
Sure, he’s a man’s man but I think he embellishes for whatever reason.
You’re not alone to question some of these things. Hell, I wrote a piece that was very similar calling Frank Dux a liar! There might be some holes in this story but I can assure you that serving in the military in 2018 is far different than serving in his time. Either way, I want to believe!
You two sound jealous, classic cases of sour grapes. The accomplishments listed for Mr. Smith are indeed documented. It is possible for a person to achieve the seeming impossible. Get off your asses and do something.
I wrote the article, pal
Chad Cruise you and the other guy bitching are probably fat keyboard warriors
Try again, Joseph!
Chris Rice is a little “b i t c h” to be sure and would never call into question these things to Bill’s face. I met Bill in 2006 and took a photo with him, I spoke to him about a 1/2 hour with him and his wife, Joanne. I do not doubt any of his accomplishments for a second and if you do, that’s because you’re not old enough to understand that back in Smith’s day, people actually didn’t bullshit a whole lot. Smith was from the “WWII” greatest generation and those men were as manly as they came.
Smith was highly intelligent and ready to challenge you. I spoke to him about engineering (I’m an engineer and I used to box a little) and he was no dummy. When I met Smith, he still had 18” arms!! At 73 years old! The dude was anything but a bullshitter and I can tell you, that even at 73 when I met him, he could pound your ass into the ground. You would not want to get into a fight with Bill Smith and I have had a few fights in my time.
Go call into question the background of some little millennial “b i t c h”, not William Smith, who I know for a stone cold fact could have put his c o c k into Chad’s mouth and he couldn’t have done anything about it.
Chad Rice is definitely jealous and extremely stupid.
*Chris Rice
@Chad Cruise – “I wrote the article pal”
You sound like a real dope too… Unless you have met Smith, you really don’t know what a shadow the man cast. He was likable, very good looking when he was young (he got a lot of poon, LOL), and was highly competitive.
Smith didn’t need to BS anyone and if anyone BS’d, it was from people who met Smith, not Smith himself. Bill impressed people and that alone leads people to exaggerate.
We have some real winners, here! I’m gonna drop the last quote from my article on you morons:
“Smith’s coolness oozed out of him and threatened to make anyone close enough “cooler” just by proxy. That’s a whole lot of man, folks.”
@Chad Cruise , So many haters and jealous “men” trying to tear down a monument that honored Mr.Smith.
Sadly, he is no longer with us, but he now enters Legend status.
Well written article. Thank you.
Thanks Jason. Good to see there are intelligent people who read this site and not just those jabronis in the comments above.
Hey Chris Rice, you reek of jealously. Why don’t you spend your time accomplishing something worth talking about instead of trolling on the internet.
Joanne would know that William was a one of kind man!
“Big Bill” was the real deal. One of the greatest on-screen villain’s of all time. I don’t think any actor can play a character that icy cold and badass, unless that is a part of who you actually are. I wonder where Bill’s career would have gone if he had played John Saxon’s Americanized James Bond character from Enter The Dragon. It would be great if someone could CGI it.
It’s a shame that his movie and tv character’s would invariably get they’re asses kicked by the hero, when Bill could have easily wiped up the floor with all of them. He was trained by Kenpo Karate Grand Master Ed Parker Sr.