Jack Smight(1925-2003)
- Director
- Producer
- Actor
Emmy Award-winning director Jack Smight was born in Minneapolis,
MN, on March 9, 1925, the offspring of Irish immigrants. After
graduating from Cretin High School he
served in the US Army Air Force during World War Two, where he flew
combat missions in the Pacific Theater. After the war he attended the
University of Minnesota, where he met up with an old high-school friend - Peter Graves (they had been matriculating in the theater department as drama students). After
graduation they hooked up in Hollywood, where they rented a room and
made the rounds, looking for work as actors while Jack worked as a
carhop and Graves drove a cab, ignoring the advice of Graves' older
brother, James Arness, to head straight back
to Minneapolis.
Unlike his friend, Smight did not achieve success as an actor. He became a stage manager and then turned to directing. Graves later said of his friend that his acting background helped him understand actors. "He was also a very intelligent, literate man," Graves said, "who knew how to communicate with the writers." These skills made him a successful director, first in television and then in the movies. In 1959 he won an Emmy Award for Best Direction of a Single Program of a Dramatic Series - Less Than One Hour for Eddie (1958), which starred Mickey Rooney and featured an Emmy-winning script by Ken Hughes. In the 1960s he directed films featuring such A-list talent as Paul Newman and Rod Steiger before moving back to TV in the 1970s, while occasionally directing a feature film.
Jack Smight died of cancer on September 1, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. He was 78 years old.
Unlike his friend, Smight did not achieve success as an actor. He became a stage manager and then turned to directing. Graves later said of his friend that his acting background helped him understand actors. "He was also a very intelligent, literate man," Graves said, "who knew how to communicate with the writers." These skills made him a successful director, first in television and then in the movies. In 1959 he won an Emmy Award for Best Direction of a Single Program of a Dramatic Series - Less Than One Hour for Eddie (1958), which starred Mickey Rooney and featured an Emmy-winning script by Ken Hughes. In the 1960s he directed films featuring such A-list talent as Paul Newman and Rod Steiger before moving back to TV in the 1970s, while occasionally directing a feature film.
Jack Smight died of cancer on September 1, 2003 in Los Angeles, California. He was 78 years old.
