Kurtwood Smith Movies and Career Information

Kurtwood Larson Smith (born July 3, 1943) is an American television and film actor. He is best known for playing stern parental characters (That '70s Show, Dead Poets Society, Worst Week), and for his appearances in the genre of science fiction (Star Trek, RoboCop, The X-Files). He also starred in the seventh season of 24. Smith was born in New Lisbon, Wisconsin and he is the son of Mabel Annette Lund (née Larson) and George Smith. Smith's mother was a fan of a country singer named Kurt (or Curt) in the early 1940s. However, she thought "Kurt Smith" was too short a name, so she added "wood" ("she just tacked it on to the end", he said). Smith has said that he is likely the only Kurtwood. Smith notably portrayed the father role as Red Forman on the Fox sitcom That '70s Show, which ran from 1998 to 2006. After That '70s Show, Smith played Senator Blaine Mayer in the seventh season of the action thriller 24, and portrayed Dick Clayton in the CBS series Worst Week. He enjoyed a recurring role as a rogue FBI agent in Seasons 3-5 of the NBC (later CBS) series Medium, appearing in later episodes as a ghost after his character's death. Before That '70s Show his other roles included playing