William Smith

Inducted into the Venice Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Hall of Fame 2010.

Recipient of the 2005 Southern California Motion Picture Council Award and of the 2008 Silver Spur Award.

William Smith is probably best known for his portrayal as "Falconetti" in Rich Man, Poor Man (1976).

Bruce Lee personally offered Smith the co-lead in Enter the Dragon (1973), but another film went over schedule and John Saxon stepped into the role.

Filmed an eight-minute test pilot portraying Caine for the TV series Kung Fu (1972), wearing prosthetic eyepieces to make him appear Chinese. The network wanted Smith for the role, but producer Jerry Thorpe ultimately deemed him too muscular and menacing.

Competed in motocross events with Steve McQueen and doubled as one of the track riders in C.C. & Company (1970).

Appeared in the final episode of Batman (1966), the first episode of The Rockford Files (1974), and although he was in the final season cast, he was not in the final episode of Hawaii Five-O (1968), he received on-screen credit only.

Child actor in both "A" and "B" movies of the 1940s. He stated in a horror magazine that during breaks on the set of The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), in which Smith played a village boy, the film's star Lon Chaney Jr., treated all of the children on the set to ice cream.

His parents were William E. Smith (1891-1973) and Emily (nee Richards) Smith (1895-1976). He and his elder sister (by two years), Emily, were named for their parents William was born on his mother's 38th birthday.