Loring Smith

Loring B. Smith (November 18, 1890 – July 8, 1981) was an American actor whose work spanned vaudeville, stage, film, radio, and television across a career of approximately 65 years. A native of Stratford, Connecticut, Smith was characteristically evasive about his birth year: early sources cite 1890, though by the 1940s he was claiming 1895, and by the 1950s, 1900. His theatrical credits, however, extend back to the 1910s, contradicting the later dates he preferred.

Smith's path to professional entertainment began during World War I, when he served in the Tank Corps and organized shows for fellow soldiers. A booking agent who caught one of his performances at Camp Upton on Long Island offered him his first professional opportunity, launching what would become a decades-long career. He was married to singer Natalie Sawyer, with whom he performed in vaudeville. Through the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, Smith worked extensively in radio, taking on hundreds of roles across drama, comedy, and variety programming.

He made his Broadway debut in Glamour Preferred in November 1940, at the age of 50, and went on to appear in twelve productions on Broadway between that debut and March 1964. The majority of those roles placed him in supporting parts, frequently billed as "Senator" or "Mayor," reflecting the blustery politician and businessman characters he became known for. He received co-starring billing alongside Conrad Nagel in the comedy Be Your Age. His most prominent Broadway role came when he portrayed Horace Vandergelder in Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker. He also appeared in the musical The Gay Life and in Yves Jamiaque's A Murderer Among Us, his final Broadway production, in which he again played a mayor. His last Broadway appearance was in March 1964, though his overall acting career continued into the late 1960s.

Smith worked intermittently in film throughout his career, appearing in supporting parts in Keep 'Em Flying (1941), which starred Abbott and Costello, and Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), the fourth installment in the William Powell and Myrna Loy series. Over the following two and a half decades he appeared in nine additional films, including a cameo as a car driver at a police checkpoint in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958). His final screen role was a small part as a small-town Southern politician in Otto Preminger's Hurry Sundown (1967).

On television, Smith was a regular presence in the early years of the medium, appearing frequently on live programs and serving as a cast member on the sitcom The Hartmans, which starred the married performers Paul and Grace Hartman. Smith played an obnoxious brother-in-law to the couple at the center of the show. He also appeared in two episodes of The Twilight Zone: "The Whole Truth," which aired January 20, 1961, in which he played city alderman Honest Luther Grimbley, and the hour-long episode "I Dream of Genie," which aired March 21, 1963. Both roles featured the type of blustering political figure he portrayed throughout his career. Beyond his American work, Smith appeared on the West End stage in London, starring opposite Mary Martin in the original London production of Hello, Dolly!

Smith retired from acting in the late 1960s, when he was in his late seventies. He died on July 8, 1981, in Fairfield, Connecticut, at the age of 90.