That '70s Show

Background:

“I love playing villains. When you're a bad guy, you get to do many real nasty things. It's a lot of fun.” Kurtwood Smith

American actor Kurtwood Smith, who first earned recognition on the theatrical circuits where he was handed three Drama-Loque awards for performances in such plays as “Green Grow the Lilacs,” “Billy Budd” and “The Idiot's Delight” (all 1981), is probably best know for portraying Red Forman on the hit Fox sitcom “That '70s Show” (1998-2006). He commented, “Most of Red Forman came from my stepdad, who is now passed away. The initial creators of the show kind of based the character on their dads and then I added my dad.”

A longtime character actor, Smith is also remembered as the villainous Clarence Boddicker in the influential science fiction action movie “RoboCop” (1988) and the rigorous father of Robert Sean Leonard on “Dead Poets Society” (1989). Other film credits include “True Believer” (1989), “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991), “Fortress” (1993), “To Die For” (1995), “Citizen Ruth” (1996), “Girl, Interrupted” (1999), “The Trouble with Dee Dee” (2005), “Hard Scrambled” (2006) and “Entry Level” (2007). Smith has also acted in several television films, guest starred in numerous TV series, and has performed voice-overs. He was a recipient of the Independent Spirit Award at the 2006 Garden State Film Festival.

As for his private life, Smith has been married twice. He and ex-wife Cecilia Souza (together from 1964 to 1974) have two daughters, including actress Laurel Smith. Smith is now the husband of Joan Pirkle. The two are activists for health care.

Woody

Childhood and Family:

Kurtwood Larson Smith was born on July 3, 1943, in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, to George Smith and Mabel Annette Lund. He was raised in Los Angeles, California, and attended Canoga Park High School, in which he was named senior class president. Kurt, as he is known by family and close friends, also inherited the nicknames Woody and Wood. He studied theater at the College of San Mateo and San Jose State University and received an MFA in drama from Stanford University in California in 1969. He also enrolled at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California.

On June 26, 1964, Kurt married Cecilia Souza, but they divorced in 1974. The couple has two daughters, Shannon and Laurel Smith (Laurel is an actress). Kurt married his present wife, Joan Pirkle, on November 5, 1988.

RoboCop

Career:

Born in Wisconsin but raised in California, Kurtwood Smith taught drama at Canada College in Redwood, California, before heading to Los Gatos to work with the California Actors Theater. A distinguished stage performer, Smith picked up three Drama-Loque awards for his impressive performances in “The Idiot's Delight,” “Billy Budd” and “Green Grow the Lilacs” (all 1981). He also performed with the California Shakespeare Festival, playing leading roles in such plays as “Hamlet” and “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Smith made his feature acting debut with a small role as a security guard in “Roadie” (1980), a comedy/musical directed by Alan Rudolph, and followed it up the following year with an appearance in Luis Valdez's “Zoot Suit.” Also in 1981, Smith appeared on the small screen on NBC’s TV film “Murder in Texas,” adapted from a book by Ann Kurth.

1983 found roles in the movies “Going Berserk” and “Staying Alive,” where Sylvester Stallone cast Smith as John Travolta's choreographer, the TV film “Missing Pieces,” starring Elizabeth Montgomery, and the ABC short-lived series “The Renegades.” He next supported Kris Kristofferson and Treat Williams in the action film “Flashpoint” (1984), appeared in the made-for-TV films “Deadly Messages” (1985), “International Airport” (1985) and “The Midnight Hour” (1985), and made his miniseries debut in ABC's “North and South, Book II” (1986). He also had a supporting role in the independent film “The Delos Adventure” (1987).

Smith, however, did not find his niche until he was cast as Clarence Boddicker in the Paul Verhoeven-directed movie “RoboCop” (1987). Starring Peter Weller in the title role, Smith became popular with his villainous role of a drug lord and sadistic killer. He gained further attention as Mr. Perry, a father who drives his sensitive son (played by Robert Sean Leonard) to suicide in Peter Weir's “Dead Poets Society” (1989), also starring Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke.

In between the two prominent roles, Smith appeared as a defense attorney in the based-on-play 'Two Idiots in Hollywood” (1988), played a father in the short “Homesick” (1988), rejoined Stallone for the action-hero vehicle “Rambo III” (1988) and offered a fine turn as district attorney Robert Reynard in “True Believer”(1989), which starred James Woods and Robert Downey Jr. He was also cast as the wicked Dr. Sue in Fox's failed series, “The New Adventures of Beans Baxter” (1987). Smith closed the 1980s by appearing as Professor Flournoy in the drama film “Heart of Dixie” (1989).

Smith remained busy throughout the 1990s. He memorably portrayed Josef Goebbels in TNT’s mini-series “The Nightmare Years” (1990), was cast as the Federation President in the Oscar nominee “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991), costarred with Christopher Lambert in Stuart Gordon's “Fortress” (1993), joined the cast of the CBS comedy series “Big Wave Dave's” (1993) in the regular role of Jack Lord, and portrayed the father of Nicole Kidman in Gus Van Sant's “To Die For” (1995). The rest of the decade found the actor having roles in such films as Alexander Payne's “Citizen Ruth” (1996, opposite Laura Dern and Swoosie Kurtz), “A Time to Kill” (1996), adapted by Joel Schumacher from the John Grisham best-selling novel, the Mimi Leder-helmed “Deep Impact” (1998), the drama film “A Bright Shining Lie” (1998, TV) and “Girl, Interrupted” (1999), starring Winona Ryder and Oscar winner Angelina Jolie. He also guest starred in an episode of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1996) and two episodes of “Star Trek: Voyager” (1997).

Smith next enjoyed success when he won a starring role on the popular Fox sitcom “That '70s Show,” about a group of teenage friends set in 1970’s Wisconsin. Smith played Reginald “Red” Forman, the funny tough father of Eric (played by Topher Grace) and husband of Kitty (played by Debra Jo Rupp), throughout the show's 8 seasons run from 1998 to 2006.

During his years in “That '70s Show,” Smith also voiced Prosecutor on two episodes of “Justice League”(2001), Agent James Bennett on “The Zeta Project” (2001-2002) and Kronos in the 2003 animated series “Battle Force: Andromeda.” Audiences could also find him appearing as the unforgiving Officer Dick in several episodes of the clay animation series “Gary & Mike” (2001), William Easter in the comedy film “Teddy Bears' Picnic” (2002), Dr. Theodore Rosen on “Trespassing” (2004), a thriller written and directed by James Merendino, the father of Lisa Ann Walter in Mike Meiners' “The Trouble with Dee Dee” (2005), Benno on the based-on-play “Hard Scrambled” (2006) and Al McBride in the NBC TV-film “Grand Union” (2006).

From January 2006 to April 2007, Smith provided the voice of Mr. Johnson on the animated series “Squirrel Boy.” He also landed guest spots in such series as “Psych,” “House M.D.” and “Shorty McShorts' Shorts,” as well as appeared in the pilot “Insatiable” (all 2007). Still in 2007, he portrayed Justice Henry Greenberg on the television film “Supreme Courtships” and had a supporting role in the film “Entry Level,” by award-winning filmmaker Douglas Horn.

Currently, Kurtwood is working on the “Untitled Barry Sonnenfeld TV Pilot” (2008), playing Gene Whitacre. The dramatic thriller also stars Alan Tudyk, Megan Dodds, Frankie Faison and Andrew Lincoln.

Awards:

• Garden State Film Festival: Independent Spirit Award, 2006

• Three Drama-Loque Awards, 1981