William Smith Popular Books
William Smith Biography & Facts
William Emmett Smith (March 24, 1933 – July 5, 2021) was an American actor. In a Hollywood career spanning more than 79 years, he appeared in almost three hundred feature films and television productions in a wide variety of character roles, often villainous or brutal, accumulating over 980 total credits, with his best known role being the menacing Anthony Falconetti in the 1970s television mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man. Smith is also known for films like Any Which Way You Can (1980), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Rumble Fish (1983), and Red Dawn (1984), as well as lead roles in several exploitation films during the 1970s and 1990s. Early life and career Smith was born on March 24, 1933, in Columbia, Missouri, to William Emmett Smith and Emily (Richards) Smith and grew up on their cattle ranch. His family later moved to Southern California, where he began his acting career at the age of eight in 1942, entering show business as a child actor in such films as The Ghost of Frankenstein, The Song of Bernadette and Meet Me in St. Louis. Smith served in the United States Air Force. He won the 200-pound (91 kg) arm-wrestling championship of the world multiple times, also winning the United States Air Force weightlifting championship. A lifelong bodybuilder, Smith was a record holder for reverse-curling his own body weight. His trademark arms measured as much as 19+1⁄2 inches. Smith held a 31–1 record as an amateur boxer. A fluent Russian speaker with a master's degree in the discipline from UCLA, during the Korean War Smith was a Russian Intercept Interrogator and flew secret ferret missions over the Russian SFSR. He was reportedly also fluent in French, German and Serbo-Croatian. While working on his doctorate, Smith was offered a contract with MGM, which would pave his career. From 1961 to 2014, Smith established himself as a highly prolific and profoundly talented character actor with roles in a diverse range of genres. Although often typecast as an anti-social personality, he sporadically got the opportunity to prove his effectiveness in other kinds of roles as a law enforcement officer or an anti-heroic protagonist. He was a regular on the 1961 ABC television series The Asphalt Jungle, portraying police Sergeant Danny Keller. In 1964, he appeared in the episode "The Rope of Lies" as Bill, a ranch hand from the Shiloh Ranch in the syndicated television series The Virginian. He appeared in the 1964 Wagon Train episode "The Bob Stuart Story" and also gave a moving performance as the orphaned Native American valet who rails against violence opposite Guy Stockwell in "The Richard Bloodgood Story" S8 E10 which aired on 11/28/1964. One of his earliest leading roles was Joe Riley, a good-natured Texas Ranger with arms of steel on the NBC western series Laredo (1965–1967). Smith guest starred as Jude Bonner on James Arness's long-lived western Gunsmoke in a 1972 episode, "Hostage!"; his character abducts, beats, and apparently rapes (off-screen) Amanda Blake's character, Miss Kitty Russell, and shoots her twice in the back. Smith has been described as the "greatest bad-guy character actor of our time". Smith joined the cast of the final season of Hawaii Five-O as Detective James "Kimo" Carew, a new officer in the Five-O unit. He had previously appeared with Jack Lord in Stoney Burke. Smith starred in one episode each of the Adam West Batman TV series (in the episode "Minerva, Mayhem and Millionaires" as Adonis, one of the minions of the title guest villainess portrayed by Zsa Zsa Gabor), I Dream of Jeannie (in the episode "Operation: First Couple on the Moon" as Turk Parker), Kung Fu and as The Treybor, a ruthless warlord, in the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode "Buck's Duel to the Death". Smith also made guest appearances opposite James Garner in the 1974 two-hour pilot for The Rockford Files (titled "Backlash of the Hunter") and George Peppard in The A-Team (in two appearances as different characters, in the first season's "Pros and Cons" and the fourth season's "The A-Team Is Coming, The A-Team Is Coming"). In the 1976 television miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, he portrayed Anthony Falconetti, nemesis of the Jordache family, and reprised the role in the sequel, Rich Man, Poor Man Book II. Other 1970s TV appearances included the Kolchak: The Night Stalker episode "The Energy Eater", as an Indian medicine man who advises Kolchak, and an early Six Million Dollar Man episode "Survival of the Fittest" as Commander Maxwell. He also appeared in the 1979 miniseries The Rebels as John Waverly; in an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard as Jason Steele, a bounty hunter hired by Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane to frame the Duke Boys into jail; and an episode of Knight Rider as Harold Turner, the manipulative leader of a hellish biker gang whom Michael Knight (David Hasselhoff) has to outsmart. On the big screen, Smith became the star of several cult feature films in the early 1970s. He appeared as heavy Terry Bartell in Darker than Amber in 1970. In the fist fight scene that ends the film, Rod Taylor hit Smith (who was playing the villain) who retaliated in kind, and a staged-fight scene became a real fight as the cameras continued to roll. Smith later reported that Taylor was "a very tough guy" who broke three of his ribs while he broke Taylor's nose. Also in 1970, Smith featured in two biker flicks Nam's Angels (originally released under the title "The Losers") co-starring Bernie Hamilton and C.C. and Company, the latter of which was directed by Seymour Robbie and written by Roger Smith. He starred in 1972's Grave of the Vampire as James Eastman and in 1973's Invasion of the Bee Girls, and 1975's The Swinging Barmaids. In 1972 and 1975, respectively, he appeared in two popular Blaxploitation films, Hammer and the controversially titled Boss Nigger, both with Fred Williamson. In 1972, he appeared in a Columbo episode "The Greenhouse Jungle" as Ken Nichols, a handsome swindler who may be a person of interest in Columbo's murder investigation. After that, he appeared as a vindictive sergeant in Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977), as a drag-racing legend in Fast Company (1979), as the title character's father in Conan the Barbarian (1982) (a movie in which he was also briefly considered for the lead role), as bad guy Matt Diggs in The Frisco Kid (1979), as Clint Eastwood's bare-knuckle opponent Jack Wilson in 1980's Any Which Way You Can and had the top villainous role as a Soviet Spetsnaz commander in 1984's Red Dawn. In 1983, Smith appeared in two films from Francis Ford Coppola in The Outsiders as a store clerk and in Rumble Fish as a police officer. In 1985, he landed the starring role of Brodie Hollister in the short-lived Disney Western series Wildside and another role as the bookmaker Dutchman's strongarm enforcer known simply as "Panama Hat", in director Richard Brooks's final movie, Fever Pitch (1985). From the late 80's on and into the new millennium, Smith's icy stare, physique a.... Discover the William Smith popular books. Find the top 100 most popular William Smith books.
Best Seller William Smith Books of 2024
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Have Dog, Will Travel
Stephen KuusistoIn a lyrical love letter to guide dogs everywhere, a blind poet shares his delightful story of how a guide dog changed his life and helped him discover a newfound appreciation for ...
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Heads of the Colored People
Nafissa Thompson-SpiresWinner of the PEN Open Book Award Winner of the Whiting Award Longlisted for the National Book Award and Aspen Words Literary Prize Nominated for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize...
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Blindspace
Jeremy SzalVakov Fukasawa is a Reaper. An elite soldier injected with a dangerous drug called stormtech: the DNA of a genocidal alien race, the Shenoi. It makes him stronger, faster, more agg...
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The Gentle Art of Tramping
Stephen GrahamThe Gentle Art of Tramping is a practical guide to longdistance walking and a philosophical account of human restlessness and the desire to connect with nature.Stephen Graham trave...
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The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories
Malcolm BradburyThis anthology is in many was a ‘best of the best’, containing gems from thirtyfour of Britain's outstanding contemporary writers. It is a book to dip into, to read from cover to c...
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See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
Bart Paul"Mr. Paul, a veteran rancher as well as an author, writes fine action scenes, and his descriptions of nature and animals can seem just as thrilling." Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal...
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William C. S. Ventress Et Al., Executors of Lovic Ventress, Deceased, Plaintiffs in Error v. Neal Smith
United States Supreme CourtThis case comes up from the district court of the district of Mississippi, upon a writ of error. It is an action of detinue, to recover five negro slaves, of which John Clark, dece...
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Worldmakers
Gardner DozoisWhen mankind moves out to the stars, the colonists of the future will remake the worlds they inhabit in their image. Included here are twenty stories from the most imaginative writ...
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The Case of William Smith
Patricia WentworthGovernessturnedsleuth Miss Silver looks into the case of a Holocaust survivor who may have enemies to elude. William Smith isn’t sure what his name is, but he knows it isn’t...
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The Executioner
Joseph de MaistreSince their first publication in 1821, de Maistre's dark writings have fascinated and appalled critics, with their relentless hatred of the Enlightenment and view of humans as murd...
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The Map That Changed the World
Simon WinchesterIn 1793, a canal digger named William Smith made a startling discovery. He found that by tracing the placement of fossils, which he uncovered in his excavations, one could follow l...
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Science for Sale
David L. LewisWhen Speaker Newt Gingrich greeted Dr. David Lewis in his office overlooking the National Mall, he looked at Dr. Lewis and said: “You know you’re going to be fired for this, don’t ...
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A Wreath Of Roses
Elizabeth Taylor & Helen DunmoreINTRODUCED BY HELEN DUNMOREElizabeth Taylor's darkest novel . . . She writes with a sensuous richness of language that draws the reader down the most shadowy paths . . . Extremely ...
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The Quest for Queen Mary
James Pope-Hennessy & Hugo Vickers'A delightful insight into an eclectic life'The Daily Telegraph'Very funny and astute . . . a loathly feast for royalwatchers' Hilary Mantel, New Statesman Books of the Year 2018'A...
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The Case of William Smith
Patricia WentworthWho was William Smith? And why was Mavis Jones so horrified to see him? For seven years William had worked as a woodcarver for the local toyshop, ignorant of his true identity. The...
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The Miss Silver Mysteries Volume Five
Patricia WentworthThe British governessturnedsleuth continues her witty, inquisitive ways with three mysteries from the “timelessly charming” series (Charlotte MacLeod). Retired governess Maud Silve...
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Sports Betting for Winners
Rob Miech“Rob Miech has outdone himself with this poignant, behindthecurtains revelation of a world of parlays and moneyline wagers, of mobruled games, and characters named Lem and Lefty. T...
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Human Happiness
Blaise PascalCreated by the seventeenthcentury philosopher and mathematician Pascal, the essays contained in Human Happiness are a curiously optimistic look at whether humans can ever find sati...
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Tom Swan and the Keys of Saint Peter
Christian CameronTHE BRAND NEW ADVENTURE FROM 'THE MASTER OF HISTORICAL FICTION' (SUNDAY TIMES)TOM SWAN SOLDIER, SCHOLAR, BASTARD, SPY.Tom Swan and his friends are trying to save Europe from the T...
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The Mueller Report
The Washington PostONE OF TIME’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARThe Crucial #1 New York Times Bestseller“The Mueller report is that rare Washington tellall that surpasses its prepublication hype…the best ...
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Lou Reed
Mick Wall'This "sincere speedwritten, bloodspattered tribute" strings together the raciest anecdotes...and does it rather well' SUNDAY TIMES'Mick Wall has written in a rough and unsentiment...
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The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy
John BrehmOver 125 poetic companions, from Basho to Billy Collins, Saigyo to Shakespeare.The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy received the Spirituality & Practice Book A...
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Night Walks
Charles DickensCharles Dickens describes in Night Walks his time as an insomniac, when he decided to cure himself by walking through London in the small hours, and discovered homelessness, drunke...
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The Classical School
Callum WilliamsA fascinating chronicle of the lives of twenty economists who played major roles in the evolution of global economic thought.What was Adam Smith really talking about when he mentio...
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The Buried Book
David DamroschAdventurers, explorers, kings, gods, and goddesses come to life in this riveting story of the first great epiclost to the world for 2,000 years, and rediscovered in the nineteenth ...
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Trail of the Fallen
Bart PaulA suspensefilled western noir thriller set in California's Sierra mountainsfor readers of Craig Johnson and C. J. Box.Tommy Smith, former sniper and Army combat veteran, wants noth...
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The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs
Julia Bishop & Steve RoudOne of the Spectator's Books of the Year 2012'Farewell and adieu to you fair Spanish ladiesFarewell and adieu to you ladies of SpainFor we've received orders for to sail for old En...
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A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland and the Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides
James Boswell, Samuel Johnson & Peter LeviBook by Samuel Johnson, published in 1775. The Journey was the result of a threemonth trip to Scotland that Johnson took with James Boswell in 1773. It contains Johnson's descripti...
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Heroes of the Holy Life
Wesley L. DuewelStories of fourteen outstanding Christians whose words and deeds set an example for believers today.This book recounts the life stories of outstanding Christians who inspire and ch...
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Stormblood
Jeremy SzalVakov Fukasawa used to be a Reaper: a bioenhanced soldier fighting for the Harmony, against a brutal invading empire. He's still fighting now, on a different battlefield: taking on...
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A Land As God Made It
James HornThe definitive history of the Jamestown colony, the crucible of American history Although it was the first permanent English settlement in North America, Jamestown is too often ove...
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Ten Mile Valley
Wayne D. OverholserFrom a threetime Spur Award–winner comes the tale of an orphaned boy who is forced to become a man.Mark Kelton is eighteen years oldpart boy, part man. On the trail to set up a ran...
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Frederick Douglass
David W. BlightWinner of the Pulitzer Prize in History“Extraordinary…a great American biography” (The New Yorker) of the most important AfricanAmerican of the nineteenth century: Frederick Dougla...
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The Case of William Smith
Patricia WentworthWilliam Smith isn’t sure what his name is, but he knows it isn’t William Smith. That was the name the Nazis gave him in 1942, when he was herded, along with so many others, into on...
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William Smith
Simon SmithFamily biography of William Smith 18841963 including his military service in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC)
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The Incendium Plot
A D Swanston'A fantastic tale of spies, deceit and murder in the Elizabethan age' S. D. Sykes'Colourful and gripping' The TimesEngland in 1572 is a powder keg of rumour, fanaticism, treachery ...
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The Nun
Denis DiderotIn 1758 Diderot's friend the Marquis de Croismare became interested in the cause célèbre of a nun who was appealing to be allowed to leave a Paris convent. Less than a year later, ...
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Deadly Anniversaries
Marcia Muller & Bill PronziniA Best Book of 2020 from Suspense Magazine Deadly Anniversaries celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Mystery Writers of America with a collection of stories from some of the top ...
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Practical Bowfishing
Wm Hovey SmithThe new Ebook version of Practical Bowfishing preserves the detailed information on methods, equipment, boats, fish, gear and cooking instructions of the original softcover book, a...
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Confessions of an English Opium Eater
Thomas De Quincey & Barry Milligan"Thou has the keys of Paradise, oh just, subtle, and mighty opium!" Determined to counter the lies about opium that had been told by travellers to the Orient and the medical profes...
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Hope Filled Recovery From Depression And Anxiety
William SmithThe author has dealt with the effects of depression and anxiety for many years, but has learned how to overcome, living a virtually depression and anxiety free life today. Through ...
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The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders
Lord DunsanyAn inspiration to many for his style and prose, Lord Dunsany was a pioneer for fantasy fiction, inspiring such famous writers as H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Neil Gaiman ...