Art Smith
Also Known As: Arthur Gordon Smith
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arthur Gordon "Art" Smith (March 23, 1899 – February 24, 1973) was an American film, stage and television actor, best known for playing supporting roles in the 1940s. Born in Chicago, he was a member of the Group Theatre and performed in many of their productions, including Rocket to the Moon, Awake and Sing!, Golden Boy and Waiting for Lefty, all by Clifford Odets; House of Connelly by Paul Green; and Sidney Kingsley's Men in White. The gray-haired actor usually played studious and dignified types in films, such as doctors or butlers. Smith appeared in many black-and-white noirish films in supporting roles alongside more handsome and popular movie leads, such as John Garfield in Body and Soul (1947) and Humphrey Bogart in In a Lonely Place (1950). He had a key role as a federal agent in 1947's Ride the Pink Horse, starring and directed by Robert Montgomery. Two of these films, In a Lonely Place and Ride a Pink Horse, were based on novels by Dorothy B. Hughes. Smith was one of the victims of the Hollywood blacklist, which ended most of his film career in 1952. In 1957, he originated the role of Doc in the stage version of West Side Story. Smith only returned occasionally to the film business, for example in an uncredited part in The Hustler. He also worked on television before retiring in 1967. He died, aged 73, in Long Island, New York, from a heart attack.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Birthday: March 22, 1899
Deathday: February 24, 1973
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Overview: A pianist about to flee from a duel receives a letter from a woman he cannot remember. As she tells the story of her lifelong love for him, he is forced to reinterpret his own past.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-04-28
Popularity:
Quicksand
Overview: Young auto mechanic Dan Brady takes $20 from a cash register at work to go on a date with blonde femme fatale Vera Novak. Brady intends to put the money back before it is missed, but the garage's bookkeeper shows up earlier than scheduled. As Brady scrambles to cover evidence of his petty theft, he fast finds himself drawn into an ever worsening "quicksand" of crime.
Genres: Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-03-24
Popularity:
The Killer That Stalked New York
Overview: In New York, Sheila Bennet and her spouse, Matt Krane, are trying to unload a trove of rare jewels they smuggled into America from Cuba, but the police are hot on the couple's trail. Meanwhile, government officials begin a desperate search for an unknown individual who is infecting the city with smallpox.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-10-06
Popularity:
The Sound of Fury
Overview: A family man – desperate for a job – latches onto a friend who encourages him into being a criminal.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-12-12
Popularity:
Brute Force
Overview: Timeworn Joe Collins and his fellow inmates live under the heavy thumb of the sadistic, power-tripping guard Captain Munsey. Only Collins' dreams of escape keep him going, but how can he possibly bust out of Munsey's chains?
Genres: Crime Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-07-16
Popularity:
Arch of Triumph
Overview: In the winter of 1938, Paris is crowded with refugees from the Nazis, who live in the black shadows of night, trying to evade deportation. One such is Dr. Ravic, who practices medicine illegally and stalks his old Nazi enemy Haake with murder in mind. One rainy night, Ravic meets Joan Madou, a kept woman cast adrift by her lover's sudden death. Against Ravic's better judgment, they become involved in a doomed affair.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-02-17
Popularity:
A Double Life
Overview: A Shakespearian actor starring as Othello opposite his wife finds the character's jealous rage taking over his mind off-stage.
Genres: Drama Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-12-25
Popularity:
Rose of Cimarron
Overview: A white girl raised by Indians sets out to find out who murdered her adoptive parents.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-01-28
Popularity:
Manhandled
Overview: Merle Kramer works as a stenographer for a psychiatrist. She is casually dating Karl Benson, a private eye and former cop. Merle mentions in passing that one of her boss's patients is an author with recurring dreams of murdering his wife, and she includes the fact that the wife owns valuable jewels. When the wife is found murdered in a manner identical to that of her husband's dream, the husband is naturally the prime suspect. But as the investigation of the police and insurance investigator Joe Cooper proceeds, it turns out that several people in the case, including Merle, are not what they seem.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-07-21
Popularity:
Caught
Overview: Wide-eyed and poor young Leonora weds an obsessive millionaire named Ohlrig, but the marriage is loveless. Even worse, Ohlrig seems to have manic, violent tendencies. Eventually, young Leonora escapes her unhappy life and begins working with New York City doctor Larry Quinada, who she soon falls for. Unfortunately, Ohlrig refuses to grant his wife a divorce, and things get even darker for Leonora when she realizes she's pregnant with his child.
Genres: Drama Romance Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-02-17
Popularity:
Education for Death: The Making of the Nazi
Overview: A propaganda film during World War II about a boy who grows up to become a Nazi soldier.
Genres: Animation Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-01-15
Popularity:
The Painted Hills
Overview: After years of prospecting, Jonathan finally strikes gold. He returns to town only to discover that his partner has since died and left Tommy fatherless. He decides to leave Shep with Tommy to cheer him up. Meanwhile, Jonathan's new partner isn't interested in sharing the gold, and lures Jonathan to his death.
Genres: Action Adventure Drama Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1951-05-04
Popularity:
The Next Voice You Hear...
Overview: The Next Voice You Hear... (1950) is a drama film in which a voice claiming to be that of God preempts all radio programs for days all over the world. It stars James Whitmore and Nancy Davis as Joe and Mary Smith, a typical American couple. It was based on a short story of the same name by George Sumner Albee.
Genres: Drama Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-06-29
Popularity:
Body and Soul
Overview: Charley Davis, against the wishes of his mother, becomes a boxer. As he becomes more successful the fighter becomes surrounded by shady characters, including an unethical promoter named Roberts, who tempt the man with a number of vices. Charley finds himself faced with increasingly difficult choices.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-11-11
Popularity:
In a Lonely Place
Overview: A screenwriter with a violent temper is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. However, she soon starts to have her doubts.
Genres: Drama Romance Mystery Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-05-17
Popularity:
Ride the Pink Horse
Overview: A con man tries to blackmail a Mexican gangster.
Genres: Drama Mystery Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-10-08
Popularity:
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid
Overview: As told to a psychiatrist: Mr. Peabody, a middle-aged Bostonian on vacation with his wife in the Caribbean, hears mysterious, wordless singing on an uninhabited rock in the bay. Fishing in the vicinity, he catches...a mermaid. He takes her home and, though she has no spoken language, falls in love with her. Of course, his wife won't believe that the thing in the bathtub is anything but a large fish.
Genres: Comedy Fantasy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-08-11
Popularity:
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
Overview: Peter Schermann is angry at the world after his children move him into a nursing home. Still physically and mentally strong, he searches for a meaning to his life in a new and uncompromising world.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1967-10-17
Popularity:
South of St. Louis
Overview: With the advent of the American Civil War, three partners in a ranch see how this is destroyed. Needing money, will join the Confederate troops, each for their particular motivations.
Genres: Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-03-06
Popularity:
Angel in Exile
Overview: An ex-convict on his way to make his fortune in a gold mine in Arizona has his trip interrupted when the residents of a small Mexican village believe him to be a sacred religious figure.
Genres: Drama Romance Western
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1948-10-20
Popularity:
T-Men
Overview: Two U.S. Treasury ("T-men") agents go undercover in Detroit, and then Los Angeles, in an attempt to break a U.S. currency counterfeiting ring.
Genres: Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-12-15
Popularity:
Song of Surrender
Overview: In 1906 in Connecticut, Elisha Hunt, the 55-year-old curator of a small government museum, marries Abigail, the 19-year-old daughter of a local farmer. In addition to the differences in their ages in this May-to-December union, Elizha is a man of culture while Abigail is uneducated. Bruce Edridge, young, handsome and wealthy, comes into her life, and they fall in love. Abigail is now faced with two choices; the chance of wealth versus her present mediocre circumstances, or her love for Bruce versus her loyalty to Elisha.
Genres: Romance Drama Music
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-10-27
Popularity:
Just for You
Overview: Jordan Blake (a widower) is a successful Broadway Producer who has always been to busy for his children, Barbara and Jerry. Girlfriend, Carolina a musical comedy star, urges Jordan to take his kids on a vacation and get to know them before they are all grown up. Is Jordan already too late?
Genres: Music Comedy Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1952-09-27
Popularity:
Framed
Overview: Truck driver Mike Lambert is a down-and-out mining engineer searching for a job. When his rig breaks down in a small town, he happens upon a venomous seductress. When her boyfriend robs a bank, they intend to frame Lambert.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1947-05-25
Popularity:
None Shall Escape
Overview: Through flashbacks, the story of a Nazi war criminal is exposed.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-02-03
Popularity:
Edge of Darkness
Overview: The film pivots around the local Norwegian doctor and his family. The doctor's wife (Ruth Gordon) wants to hold on to the pretence of gracious living and ignore their German occupiers. The doctor, Martin Stensgard (Walter Huston), would also prefer to stay neutral, but is torn. His brother-in-law, the wealthy owner of the local fish cannery, collaborates with the Nazis. The doctor's daughter, Karen (Ann Sheridan), is involved with the resistance and with its leader Gunnar Brogge (Errol Flynn). The doctor's son has just returned to town, having been sent down from the university, and is soon influenced by his Nazi-sympathizer uncle. Captain Koenig (Helmut Dantine), the young German commandant of the occupying garrison, whose fanatic determination to do everything by the book and spoutings about the invincibility of the Reich hides a growing fear of a local uprising.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-04-09
Popularity:
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Overview: In Brooklyn circa 1900, the Nolans manage to enjoy life on pennies despite great poverty and Papa's alcoholism. We come to know these people well through big and little troubles: Aunt Sissy's scandalous succession of "husbands"; the removal of the one tree visible from their tenement; and young Francie's desire to transfer to a better school...if irresponsible Papa can get his act together.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1945-02-28
Popularity:
Native Land
Overview: By the start of World War II, Paul Robeson had given up his lucrative mainstream work to participate in more socially progressive film and stage productions. Robeson committed his support to Paul Strand and Leo Hurwitz’s political semidocumentary Native Land. With Robeson’s narration and songs, this beautifully shot and edited film exposes violations of Americans’ civil liberties and is a call to action for exploited workers around the country. Scarcely shown since its debut, Native Land represents Robeson’s shift from narrative cinema to the leftist documentaries that would define the final chapter of his controversial film career.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1942-05-11
Popularity:
Youth Runs Wild
Overview: The teens of a defense-plant town hop on the road to juvenile delinquency while their parents are busy with the war.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-09-01
Popularity:
Appointment in Berlin
Overview: The "war of nerves" which gripped the European continent in 1938, is the background for this war thriller starring George Sanders.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1943-07-15
Popularity:
The Black Parachute
Overview: A paratrooper drops behind enemy lines to rescue the deposed king of a mythical Balkan nation.
Genres: Drama Adventure War
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1944-05-04
Popularity:
South Sea Sinner
Overview: A tramp steamer lands sick crewman Jake Davis on rubber-growing island Oraka, from which voluptuous, bedroom-eyed saloon singer Coral is about to be ejected because "men like her too much." But Coral's slimy boss Cognac gets her a reprieve so she can learn Jake's secret.
Genres: Adventure Crime Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1950-08-30
Popularity:
The Moving Finger
Overview: A rare beatnik artifact of the early 1960s, one of only a few such films made before the hippies took over Hollywood. Low budget and in b&w, it's set in Greenwich Village, with what seems like a mostly improvised script. It begins as a late film noir crime tale involving a bank robbery where only one of a group of thieves escapes with his life, as well as $90,000 in loot. Injured and on the run, he hides in a local tour bus and is soon taken in by a group of bohemians who shoot him full of morphine to ease his pain and let him sleep it off on a mattress. Mason is the head beatnik. There's also the owner of both an upstairs coffeehouse and garret, where these beatniks hang out. They, in turn, bring the tourist trade in. Although the robbery is supposed to be the main focus of the plot, it quickly turns into more of a character study featuring these rebellious bon vivants and their odd lifestyle...
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1963-12-01
Popularity:
Red, Hot and Blue
Overview: In her attempts to make a splash on Broadway, a lively would-be-actress lands herself in hot water with the mob.
Genres: Music Comedy Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1949-09-05
Popularity:
Mason of the Mounted
Overview: Canadian Mountie Mason is sent south of the border to look for a horse thief with only a watch chain for evidence. He befriends young Andy and when Calhoun hits Andy, Mason and Calhoun fight. In the scuffle Calhoun's watch with the missing chain is dislodged. Mason then sets out to bring in Calhoun and his gang.
Genres: Action Western Adventure
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1932-05-14
Popularity: