Paul L. Smith

Biography

Paul Lawrence Smith, credited as Paul Smith or Paul L. Smith, was an American actor born in Everett, Massachusetts, on June 24, 1936, and who died in Ra'anana, Israel, on April 25, 2012. Burly and imposing, he appeared in feature films and occasionally on television for several decades, usually playing menacing, cruel or outright villainous men. His physique shaped his early career: as a young man he trained in boxing and wrestling, which led to work as a bouncer and bodyguard before he moved into acting.

His screen debut came in 1960 with Otto Preminger's epic Exodus, filmed in Israel, which was also his first trip to the country. He returned in 1967 as a Mahal volunteer during the Six-Day War and stayed for six years, working in locally made films and television productions. In that period he also received director credit on the 1970 documentary Milhemet 20 HaShanim and the 1972 crime drama Jacko Vehayatzaniot. He met his wife, Eve, in Israel, and the couple lived in Tel Aviv before moving to Italy and then, in 1977, to Hollywood.

Between 1973 and 1977 he made a run of Italian films with Michael Coby, a pseudonym of Antonio Cantafora, a pairing designed to echo the success of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer. Smith played Spencer-style brawlers while Coby was a Hill lookalike. When one of these films, Convoy Buddies, was picked up for American release, the distributor renamed the leads; Smith sued and won, a case built on the argument that an actor's name recognition is central to his career.

In Hollywood his profile grew with 21 Hours at Munich (1976) and Midnight Express (1978), where he played the brutal prison official in Istanbul. Higher-profile parts followed: Bluto in Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), for which he also recorded a song on the soundtrack, Gideon in the miniseries Masada (1981), Glossu "Beast" Rabban in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Falkon in Red Sonja (1985). He also appeared in series such as Emergency!, CHiPs, Wonder Woman, Barney Miller and Hawaii Five-O.

From 2006 he lived with his wife in Ra'anana, where the couple took Hebrew names on becoming Israeli citizens, and he died there in 2012 at 75. His legacy rests on a recognizable supporting career, mainly as a hulking screen villain in the 1970s and 1980s, across films made in the United States, Israel and Italy.

Key films

• Exodus (1960), his first screen appearance, shot in Israel.
• 21 Hours at Munich (1976), as an Israeli official in the television film about the Munich attack.
• Midnight Express (1978), as Hamidou, the cruel prison director.
• Popeye (1980), as Bluto, one of his best-known roles.
• Dune (1984), as Glossu Rabban, the Beast Rabban.
• Red Sonja (1985), as Falkon.
• Maverick (1994), as the Archduke.