William Smithers, a character actor familiar to 80s TV fans for his role as oil baron Jeremy Wendell on Dallas, has died.
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The 98-year-old passed away on May 26, according to an obituary in the Santa Barbara Independent. Smithers was living in Santa Barbara, California, at the time of his death.
According to IMDb, Smithers appeared on Dallas from 1981 to 1989 across 50 episodes. Over the course of his decades-long career, he also appeared in high-profile shows like Star Trek, Ironside, The Six Million Dollar Man, and Hunter.
Smithers also starred in 56 episodes of the classic ABC soap Peyton Place from 1965 to 1966. Additionally, he played Stanley Norris on Guiding Light from 1970 to 1971 and was a cast member on the series Executive Suite from 1976 to 1977.
Smithers was born in Richmond, Virginia. He made his Broadway debut in 1951 as Tybalt in a production of Romeo and Juliet starring Olivia de Havilland. In 1952, he joined The Actors Studio. His other stage credits include Legend of Lovers and The Shadow of a Gunman.
William Smithers Won a Lawsuit Still Reportedly Taught in Entertainment Law Courses
Meanwhile, Smithers was also involved in a landmark legal case.
While playing Anderson Gault on Executive Suite, Smithers sued MGM for breach of contract. His contract stipulated that no other cast member, aside from three named exceptions, could be paid more than him. Smithers claimed an MGM executive threatened to blacklist him over the suit, but he persisted and won the highly publicized case.
Per the Santa Barbara Independent’s obit, Smiothers “won a case that was appealed as far as the California Supreme Court, and is now taught in entertainment law courses.”
Smithers also landed roles in major films, making his movie debut as an infantry officer in Attack (1956). He later appeared as a police captain in Trouble Man (1972), a spy in Scorpio (1973), and Warden Barrot in Papillon (1973) alongside Steve McQueen.
Smithers continued acting until the mid-1990s, with his last credited appearance being in a 1994 episode of Walker, Texas Ranger.
He settled in Santa Barbara with his wife, acting teacher and writer S. Loraine Hull. In their later years, they worked in local television and radio. Hull died in 2022.