As “Toad” in “American Graffiti,” Charles Martin Smith took playing the school nerd to new heights. Over 50 years later, the California-born actor-director co-stars opposite Toronto actress Anwen O’Driscoll in “This Time,” director Robert Vaughn’s very modern road picture. Catch it June 19, 20; July 15 and 24; and Aug. 4 and 27 on Super Channel Fuse or streaming on demand on Super Channel.
In between, Smith has acted with a Who’s Who of Hollywood. Besides Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Richard Dreyfus and Harrison Ford in “Graffiti, his early credits find him opposite David Niven, Darren McGavin and Don Knotts in Disney’s “No Deposit, No Return”; Sean Connery and Kevin Costner in “The Untouchables”; Jeff Bridges in “Starman”; and Michael Keaton and Geena Davis in “Speechless.”
His TV credits range from episodes of The Brady Bunch, Room 222 and The Streets of San Francisco to LA Law, Northern Exposure and The X-Files. He’s worked on more Canadian shows and movies than many Canadian-born actors, including “Never Cry Wolf” and Da Vinci’s Inquest. His directing credits include “Air Bud,” episodes of Da Vinci and Motive and “The Snow Walker.”
And then there are the roles that got away, including one he auditioned for — Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars.”
On that Room 222 episode, he appears in a school play as Harpo Marx. Now one of his good friends in Palm Springs is the son of Harpo, Bill Marx.
Then there are his dad and uncles — “Golden Age” animation directors for Walter Lantz, Disney and UPA! Smith is a great story teller and man does he share some doozies here. To listen to the hour-plus conversation, simply click on the white arrow in the blue dot above.
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