# Charles Martin Smith

Charles Martin Smith (born October 30, 1953) is an American actor and filmmaker, based in British Columbia, Canada.
His breakout role was as Terry "The Toad" Fields in George Lucas' film American Graffiti (1973), which he reprised for its sequel More American Graffiti (1979). He subsequently had notable roles in The Spikes Gang (1974), The Buddy Holly Story (1978), Starman (1984), The Untouchables (1987), Deep Cover (1992), And the Band Played On (1993), Speechless (1994) and Deep Impact (1998). After starring in the 1983 film Never Cry Wolf, a biopic of Canadian environmentalist Farley Mowat, Smith moved to British Columbia, where he has since resided.
Smith made his directorial debut with the comedy horror film Trick or Treat (1986). His subsequent films include Air Bud (1997), Dolphin Tale (2011), Dolphin Tale 2 (2014) and A Dog's Way Home (2019). He received Genie Award nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay for The Snow Walker (2003), and BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Feature Film for Stone of Destiny (2008). He's also been nominated for seven Leo Awards.

## Biography
### Early life

Smith was born in Van Nuys, California. His father, Frank Smith, was a film cartoonist and animator, while his uncle Paul J. Smith was an animator as well as a director for the Walter Lantz Studios. Smith spent three years of his youth in Paris, where his father managed the English-language branch of a French animation studio. He received his high school diploma from Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda, California. He attended California State University, Northridge where he earned a B.A. in Theatre.

### Acting background

Smith was discovered by a talent agent while acting in a school play, Man of La Mancha. After a few years of working in film and television, he landed the role of Terry "The Toad" Fields in George Lucas's 1973 film American Graffiti, a role he reprised in the film's 1979 sequel, More American Graffiti.
In 1973, he and American Graffiti co-star Cindy Williams appeared together in an episode of Love, American Style titled "Love and the Time Machine".
In 1974, he starred with Ron Howard in The Spikes Gang, filmed in Spain, along with Lee Marvin and Gary Grimes, and in 1978, he earned a starring role in Cotton Candy, directed by Howard.
In 1975, he auditioned for the role of Luke Skywalker in Lucas's 1977 film Star Wars, which eventually went to Mark Hamill.
Smith played one of Buddy Holly's bandmates in The Buddy Holly Story, a race car driver in Disney's Herbie Goes Bananas, and the starring role as a scientist in Never Cry Wolf. His work in Starman, as Mark Shermin, a SETI member sympathetic to the title character's plight, was also lauded. In 1979 Smith was cast alongside Barney Martin as the lead in Norman Lear's last television series concept, McGurk: A Dog's Life, which never progressed beyond the pilot.
Another role was in "Banshee", an episode of The Ray Bradbury Theater that costarred Peter O'Toole and Jennifer Dale. He also appeared in the episode "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar". One of his later starring roles was in "The Beacon", an episode of The Twilight Zone where he starred with Martin Landau and Giovanni Ribisi in an early role.
He was in The Untouchables. After this, he co-starred in The Hot Spot and Deep Cover, and in the mid-1990s, he appeared in films such as Speechless, I Love Trouble, and Perfect Alibi.
Smith portrayed Dr. Harold Jaffe in the 1993 HBO film And the Band Played On. In 1995, he performed in the TV miniseries Streets of Laredo.
He also appeared in The Beast in 1996 and in a minor role in the big budget Deep Impact in 1998. He played a major character in the made-for-television movie Blackout Effect.
More recently, he has appeared in mini-series such as P.T. Barnum, Kingdom Hospital and The Triangle as well as the feature film Lucky You directed by Curtis Hanson. In 2009, he played a featured role, Sheriff Golightly, in the second episode of season two of the TV series Fringe.

### Never Cry Wolf (1983)

Smith devoted almost three years to filming Never Cry Wolf, adapted from a memoir by environmentalist Farley Mowat. Smith said, "I was much more closely involved in that picture than I had been in any other film. Not only acting, but writing and the whole creative process." He also found the process difficult. "During much of the two-year shooting schedule in Canada's Yukon and in Nome, Alaska, I was the only actor present. It was the loneliest film I've ever worked on." During the filming, he became so enamored of the Northwest that he decided to relocate to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he has resided since the mid-1980s.
Carroll Ballard, director of Never Cry Wolf, asked Smith to write much of the narration for the film. Smith also performed in a lengthy scene with wolves and caribou in which he was entirely naked. While working on this production, Smith formed a friendship with the author, Farley Mowat, which lasted until Mowat's death in 2014.

### Directing

Along with his acting career, since the mid-1990s Smith has increasingly focused on his work behind the camera both as a writer and director. His first film as director was the camp horror story Trick or Treat (1986) for Dino De Laurentiis, in which he also appeared. In 1992, he directed and acted in Fifty/Fifty, a movie filmed in Malaysia which also starred Robert Hays and Peter Weller. He was one of the directors of the TV series Space: Above and Beyond (1995) as well as the director of the initial episode ("Welcome to the Hellmouth") that launched the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). He next directed the successful feature film Air Bud (Disney, 1997), and two TV miniseries for Hallmark Entertainment, Roughing It, starring James Garner as Mark Twain, (2001) and Icon (2005), starring Patrick Swayze, Michael York and Patrick Bergin. He directed numerous episodes of the Canadian television series DaVinci's Inquest, and wrote and executive produced The Clinic, a film about a veterinary clinic for Animal Planet in 2003.
In 2003, he wrote and directed the acclaimed Canadian feature film The Snow Walker for Lions Gate Films, based on a story by Farley Mowat, which marked a return to the Arctic for Smith and garnered nine Genie Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director for Smith.
In 2007, Smith wrote and directed the British/Canadian co-production Stone of Destiny for Mob Films, and Infinity Features, starring Charlie Cox, Robert Carlyle and Kate Mara. Stone of Destiny was the closing Gala Presentation for the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. His next film was Dolphin Tale for Alcon Entertainment. The film, based on a true story, stars Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd, Morgan Freeman, Kris Kristofferson, Nathan Gamble and Cozi Zuehlsdorff, and was released on September 23, 2011, by Warner Bros. To date, the film has grossed over $70 million at the domestic box office and over $100 million worldwide.
He returned to write and direct the sequel, Dolphin Tale 2. He based his original script on various true-life events that have occurred at the Clearwater Marine Hospital, including the dramatic rescue of a baby dolphin named "Hope" that coincidentally happened during the wrap party of the first film, with many of the film's cast and crew watching. The entire cast returned to take part, and the movie was released by Warner Bros on September 12, 2014.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1972 | The Culpepper Cattle Co. | Tim Slater | |
| 1972 | Fuzz | "Baby" | |
| 1973 | Go Ask Alice | Jim | TV movie |
| 1973 | Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid | Charlie Bowdre | |
| 1973 | American Graffiti | Terry "The Toad" Fields | |
| 1974 | The Spikes Gang | Tod | |
| 1975 | Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins | Alan Boone | |
| 1976 | No Deposit, No Return | Longnecker | |
| 1976 | Law of the Land | Dudley | TV movie |
| 1977 | The Hazing aka The Curious Case of the Campus Corpse | Barney | |
| 1978 | The Buddy Holly Story | Ray Bob | |
| 1978 | Cotton Candy | George Smalley | TV movie |
| 1979 | A Dog's Life | Tucker | TV movie |
| 1979 | More American Graffiti | Terry "The Toad" Fields | |
| 1980 | Herbie Goes Bananas | Davy "D.J." Johns | |
| 1983 | Never Cry Wolf | Farley Mowat / Tyler | |
| 1984 | Starman | Mark Shermin | |
| 1986 | Trick or Treat | Mr. Wimbley | Also directed |
| 1987 | The Untouchables | Agent Oscar Wallace | |
| 1989 | The Experts | Cameron Smith | |
| 1990 | The Hot Spot | Lon Gulick | |
| 1992 | Deep Cover | DEA Agent Gerry Carver | |
| 1992 | Boris and Natasha | Hotel Clerk | Also directed |
| 1992 | Fifty/Fifty | Martin Sprue | Also directed |
| 1993 | And the Band Played On | Dr. Harold Jaffe | TV movie |
| 1994 | I Love Trouble | Rick Medwick | |
| 1994 | Roswell | Sheriff Wilcox | TV movie |
| 1994 | Speechless | Kratz | |
| 1995 | Brothers' Destiny | Merriman | TV movie |
| 1995 | Perfect Alibi | Franklin Dupard | |
| 1996 | The Final Cut | Captain Weldon Mamet | |
| 1996 | The Beast | Schuyler Graves | TV movie |
| 1996 | Wedding Bell Blues | Oliver Napier | |
| 1997 | Dead Silence | Roland W. Marks | TV movie |
| 1997 | Air Bud | | Director |
| 1998 | Blackout Effect | Henry Drake | TV movie |
| 1998 | Deep Impact | Dr. Marcus Wolf | |
| 1998 | Hoods | Gun Dealer | (uncredited) |
| 1999 | P.T. Barnum | Beach | TV movie |
| 1999 | The Apartment Complex | Gary Glumley | TV movie |
| 2000 | Here's to Life! | Ned | |
| 2002 | Roughing It | Platt | TV movie |
| 2002 | Dead Heat | Morty | |
| 2002 | Touching Wild Horses | Charles Thurston | |
| 2003 | The Snow Walker | | Director & Writer |
| 2004 | The Last Casino | Barnes | TV movie |
| 2005 | Icon | Doctor | Also directed; TV movie |
| 2005 | Left Behind: World at War | Vice President John Mallory | |
| 2007 | Still Small Voices | Burton Hayes | |
| 2007 | Lucky You | Roy Durucher | |
| 2008 | Jack and Jill vs. the World | Carlin | |
| 2008 | Stone of Destiny | | Director & Writer |
| 2011 | Dolphin Tale | | Director |
| 2014 | Dolphin Tale 2 | George Hatton | Also directed & writer |
| 2019 | A Dog's Way Home | | Director |
| 2020 | A Gift from Bob | | Director |

## Television credits

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1971 | The Brady Bunch | Ronnie | Episode "The Wheeler-Dealer" |
| 1971 | Monty Nash | Bellhop | Episode "The Visitor" |
| 1972 | Room 222 | Paul Harris (Harpo) | Episode "You Don't Know Me, He Said" |
| 1973 | Love, American Style | Julius | Episode "Love and the Blue Plate Special/Love and the Man of the Year/Love and the Time Machine" (segment "Love and the Time Machine") |
| 1973 | Chase | Little Bits | Episode "Sizzling Stones" |
| 1974 | The Streets of San Francisco | Russell Jamison | Episode "Blockade" |
| 1974 | The Rookies | Bobby Lewis | Episode "Death at 6 A.M." |
| 1974 | Petrocelli | Frankie | Episode "A Covenant with Evil" |
| 1975 | Lucas Tanner | Rod Jernigan | Episode "Those Who Cannot, Teach" |
| 1976 | Baretta | Harold | Episode "Shoes" |
| 1977 | The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams | Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt | Episode "The Tenderfoot" |
| 1980 | When the Whistle Blows | Jimmy | Episode "Love Is a Four-Letter Word" |
| 1985 | The Twilight Zone | Dr. Dennis Barrows | Episode "The Beacon/One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" (segment "The Beacon") |
| 1986-1989 | The Ray Bradbury Theater | Douglas Rogers / Hugh Fortnum | Episodes "Boys! Raise Giant Mushrooms in Your Cellar!" (Fortnum) and "Banshee" (Rogers) |
| 1993 | Partners | "Grave Squad" Lawyer | TV short |
| 1993 | The Untouchables | Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey | Episode "Attack on New York" |
| 1993 | Tales from the Crypt | Colin | Episode "Half-Way Horrible" |
| 1993 | Picket Fences | Lyman Pike | Episode "Blue Christmas" |
| 1994 | L.A. Law | Dale Hardy | Episode "Dead Issue" |
| 1994 | Northern Exposure | Roger Brewster (Satan) | Episode "The Robe" |
| 1995 | Take Out the Beast | The biorobot | TV short |
| 1995 | The Outer Limits | Spencer Deighton | Episode "Blood Brothers" |
| 1995 | The X-Files | Dr. Osbourne | Episode "F. Emasculata" |
| 1995 | Streets of Laredo | Ned Brookshire | Miniseries |
| 1999 | The New Woody Woodpecker Show | Marty | Episode "Pinheads/The Chilly Show/Silent Treatment" |
| 2000-2001 | Family Law | Mr. Chilton | Episodes "The Gay Divorcee" and "Going Home" |
| 2001 | Ally McBeal | Mayor Horn | Episode "Nine One One" |
| 2004 | Kingdom Hospital | Earl Swinton | Episode "Thy Kingdom Come" |
| 2005 | The Triangle | Captain Jay | Miniseries |
| 2005-2006 | Da Vinci's City Hall | Joe Friedland / Mike Franklin | Also directed 3 episodes |
| 2006 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Sheriff Bartley | Episode "Infiltrated" |
| 2007 | Drive | Mr. Bright | Episodes "No Turning Back", "Let the Games Begin", "Partners", and "The Starting Line" |
| 2009 | Leverage | Glenn Leary | Episode "The Beantown Bailout Job" |
| 2009 | Fringe | Sheriff Golightly | Episode "Night of Desirable Objects" |
| 2010 | Psych | Roy Kessler | Episode "Not Even Close... Encounters" |
| 2015 | Motive | Rick Wyatt | Episode "Frampton Comes Alive" |