Kurtwood Smith Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Professions Actor , Executive producer
Nationality American
Birth July 3, 1942 (New Lisbon, Wisconsin, United States)

BIOGRAPHY
Born in Wisconsin, Kurtwood Smith grew up with his mother (his father died in combat during World War II) in the San Fernando Valley and graduated from high school in 1961. Passionate about theater, he enrolled in dramatic arts at the University of San Jose and then at Stanford. He obtained two diplomas, the first in 1965, the second in 1969. Alongside his stage performances, the young man multiplied the castings.

In the early 1980s, Kurtwood Smith began by appearing furtively in the musical Roadie via the role of a security guard. He made appearances in television films (The Young and the Restless, Missing Pieces) and played the character of Captain Scalon in the detective series The Renegades. He then obtained several small roles in the cinema ( Staying Alive , Going Berserk , Flashpoint ), but it is mainly on television, on the TV film side, that he is active.

Kurtwood Smith gained notoriety in 1986, when he was chosen to play Clarence Boddicker, the villain of Robocop , who is a vile, ultra-violent gang leader. Building on this remarkable performance, the actor is asked to play solid supporting roles in films like Rambo III , Guilty Resemblance and especially The Circle of Missing Poets , in which he plays Robert ‘s conservative father Sean Leonard , whom he indirectly pushes to suicide.

In the 1990s, Kurtwood Smith multiplied his performances for the big screen, leaving (almost) aside the small window. He thus rubs shoulders with Christophe Lambert in Fortress (1992), Nicole Kidman in Ready for Anything (1995), Steven Seagal in High Speed ​​Trap (id.), John Travolta in Broken Arrow (1996), Matthew McConaughey in The Right to Kill? (id.), Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact (1997) or even Angelina Jolie in A Stolen Life (1999).

Kurtwood Smith then tends to favor the small screen and its series. Thus, from 1998 to 2006, he played Eric’s (grumpy!) father in the famous sitcom That ’70s Show . He is also seen taking part in Medium , 24 Hours Chrono , Worst Week , Chaos , Resurrection , Agent Carter ,Patriot , The Ranch and the recent miniseries The Dropout . Also recognized as a voice actor, he worked on Project Zeta , A Squirrel in My House , Neighbors from Hell , Regular Show and Beware the Batman .