Kurtwood Smith

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Kurtwood Smith
Full name:	Kurtwood Larson Smith
Birth date:	July 3, 1943 (age 81)
Birth place:	New Lisbon, Wisconsin
Occupation:	Actor Voice actor Teacher
Education:	Canoga Park High School College of San Mateo San Jose State University Santa Clara University Stanford University
Parents:	George Smith (deceased) Mabel Annette Lund Step-father (deceased)
Spouse(s):	Cecilia Souza (m. 1964-1974; divorced) Joan Pirkle (m. since 1988)
Children:	Shannon Smith Laurel Smith

Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American actor, a teacher and a voice actor for Regular Show who is well known for portraying the character Red Forman on That '70s Show.

Early life

Kurtwood Larson Smith was born on July 3, 1943 in New Lisbon, Wisconsin to his parents, fighter pilot George Smith, and Mabel Annette Lund (née Larson) Smith. His mother wanted to name him "Kurt", inspired by a country singer's name, but she found the name "Kurt Smith" to be too insignificant, so she decided to add "wood" to his given name. When Smith was an infant, his father, a fighter pilot in World War II, died after being shot down on a bombing run over Germany. He and his mother moved to California when he was 10. He attended high school at Canoga Park High School, where he was also senior class president, graduating in 1961. He then started attending college at the College of San Mateo. He would continue his education by attending San Jose State University, graduating in 1966. He then attended Santa Clara University before attending Stanford University, graduating in 1969 with a master's degree in Theater. After college he decided to become a teacher, teaching acting and drama at Canada College. Afterwards he started to work with the California Actors Theater.

Career

Film

Smith made his film debut in Roadie in 1980, playing a security guard. He was then a choreographer to John Travolta's character in Staying Alive in 1983, Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop in 1987, the father of Robert Sean Leonard's character in Dead Poets Society in 1989 and father to Nicole Kidman's character in To Die For in 1995. More recently he has acted in Cedar Rapids in 2011.

Television

Smith has also acted in television, appearing in the short-lived series The Renegades in 1983, portraying three different characters in the Star Trek series: Cardassian Thrax in Deep Space Nine, time traveler Annorax in Voyager and the President of the Federation in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991. When That '70s Show was in production, producers of the show described Red Forman as "a no-nonsense, Chuck Norris type." The producers had even asked Norris himself to play the role, but he declined the offer. They then offered Smith the role, who accepted it. Smith says his performance as Red was inspired by his own step-father, who had died just as That '70s Show was beginning production. He would remain with the show for all of its 8 seasons.

Voiceovers

In addition to his live action work, Smith has also dabbled in voice acting, having provided the voices for such characters as Bob Johnson on Squirrel Boy and General Galapagos on Eek! the Cat. On Regular Show, he provides the voice of Gene, the park manager of East Pines.

Voice credits

Season 3

• "Prankless" - Gene

Season 4

• "The Christmas Special" - Gene

Season 5

• "Thomas Fights Back" - Gene

Season 6

• "Park Managers Lunch" - Gene
• "Men in Uniform" - Gene

Season 7

• "The Parkie Awards" - Gene
• "Chili Cook-Off" - Gene

Personal life

Smith has been married twice. He married his first wife, Cecilia Souza, on June 10, 1964, and the couple had two children, their son Shannon, who is also known as "Dr. Sauce" as his radio personality, and their daughter Laurel. They eventually divorced in 1974. He met actress and activist Joan Pirkle on the set of RoboCop, as he played Clarence Boddicker and she played Ronny Cox's character's secretary. They fell in love and married on November 5, 1988, and the two have remained married since. Smith also holds an honorary position on the board of People Assisting the Homeless. He resides in Los Angeles, California. In his free time Smith enjoys scuba diving, watching movies and basketball.

External links

• Kurtwood's Twitter
• Kurtwood's Instagram
• Kurtwood's IMDb page
• Kurtwood's Wikipedia page