Frank Kent Smith (March 19, 1907 – April 23, 1985) was an American actor who had a lengthy career in film, theatre and television.
Early years
Smith was the son of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Smith. He was born in New York City and was educated at Lincoln School, Phillips Exeter Academy and at Harvard University. He appeared on Broadway in Measure for Measure; Sweet Love Remembered; The Best Man; Ah, Wilderness!; Dodsworth (1934); Saint Joan (1936); Old Acquaintance (1941); Antony and Cleopatra (1948) and Bus Stop (1956). Smith appeared as the Leading Man for the 1938 Summer stock season at Elitch Theatre.
Film
Smith moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The Garden Murder Case.
Television
Regular cast
Kent Smith played the imperious Dr. Morton on the popular series Peyton Place with his real-life wife (Edith Atwater) cast as Mrs. Morton. Smith played Edgar Scoville in the second season of the science-fiction series The Invaders (1967-1968) and was a host for the anthology series Philip Morris Playhouse (1953-1954).
Guest appearances
Smith had roles in TV movies such as How Awful About Allan (1970), The Night Stalker (1972), The Judge and Jake Wyler (1972), The Cat Creature (1973), The Affair (1973) and The Disappearance of Flight 412 (1974). His numerous television credits included a continuing role in Peyton Place as Dr. Robert Morton. He began guest-starring in television series in 1949 in The Philco Television Playhouse and appeared in Robert Montgomery Presents; General Electric Theater; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Naked City; Have Gun – Will Travel; Perry Mason; Gunsmoke “Beaton” (1963), a man trying to steal two Irish immigrants’ land in “Two of a Kind” (S8E27, 1963), "Dakota" (1963), and as an aging gunslinger in “The Glory & The Mud” (S9E14); The Beverly Hillbillies; Rawhide S2 E8 as Capt. Loomis in "Incident of the Haunted Hills" (1959); The Americans; Barnaby Jones; Wagon Train in 1957 as "Professor Paul Owens", husband to Shelley Winters, in "The Ruth Owens Story" (S1E3), and in 1959 S3 E14 "The Lita Foladaire Story" as Jess Foladaire; The Outer Limits; The Alfred Hitchcock Hour S1 E4 as Jerry O'Hara in "I Saw the Whole Thing" (1962); Mission: Impossible ("The Confession" 1/22 (1967); Night Gallery and the 1976 miniseries Once an Eagle.
thumb|right|Kent Smith and Simone Simon in Curse of the Cat People (1944) He played Governor Winston Brubaker in The Wild Wild West S3 E12 "The Night of the Legion of Death" which aired 11/22/1967. He appeared in the musical remake of Lost Horizon (1972), and the television movie Probe (1972), that would become the pilot for the TV series Search.
Personal life and death
Smith was married to actress Betty Gillette from 1937 until their divorce in 1954 and to actress Edith Atwater from 1962 until his death from congestive heart failure in Woodland Hills, California at the age of 78.