Dean Smith

Acting

Dean Smith

Born 1932-01-15 · Breckenridge, Texas, USA

Dean Smith was raised in Eliasville, Texas, and later lived in Breckenridge, Texas, where he raised horses and longhorn cattle. He attended the University of Texas at Austin where he competed in track and football. He won an Olympic gold medal for the 400-meter relay in the 1952 Helsinki games and finished fourth in the 100 dash in the closest race in Olympic history. He was the lead-off man on the University of Texas world record relay team, 1954-55, and AAU national champion in the 100-meter dash. He played with the Los Angeles Rams during exhibition season and was traded to the Pittsburg Steelers at which time he decided to enter the movie business. He also won amateur rodeo championships for bareback bronco riding and calf roping. He was an honorary member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame (2006), the Texas Sports Hall of Fame (1985), Stuntman's Hall of Fame (1980), and the University of Texas Hall of Fame (1980). He was awarded the American Culture Award for Western Movies and Television (2000), the Golden Boot Award in 1998, the Ben Johnson Award in 1993, the All-American Cowboy Award in 1997, and the Head of the Class Alvin Davis Award in 2002. In 2002, he organized the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo benefiting the Cowboy Cancer Crusade tribute to Ben Johnson, the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Institute honoring John Wayne, and, in 2006, the Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo benefiting the John Wayne Cancer Institute honoring The Singing Cowboys in Abilene, Texas, the third weekend in October. On April 8, 2006, the John Wayne Cancer Institute honored him with the "Duke Award" for his contributions to cancer research. In 2023, Dean Smith died of cancer, aged 91, in Breckenridge, Texas.

Acting credits

Rio Bravo poster
7.8

A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.

Rio Bravo

1959

Raw Deal poster
5.9

Mark Kaminsky is kicked out of the FBI for his rough treatment of a suspect. He winds up as the sheriff of a small town in North Carolina. FBI Chief Harry Shannon, whose son has been killed by a mobster named Patrovina, enlists Kaminsky in a personal vendetta with a promise of reinstatement into the FBI if Patrovina is taken down. To accomplish this, he must go undercover and join Patrovina's gang.

Raw Deal

1986

True Grit poster
7.3

The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.

True Grit

1969

Rhinestone poster
4.9

After a big-time country singer brags that she can turn anybody in to a country-singin' star, she's out to prove she can live up to her talk when she recruits a cab-driver as a country singer. He's scheduled to sing at a big-time NYC country night club and she puts her ample powers to work in preparing her protege.

Rhinestone

1984

El Dorado poster
7.4

Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Harrah. Together with a fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.

El Dorado

1966

Earthquake poster
6.2

Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.

Earthquake

1974

Creepshow 2 poster
6.2

Three macabre tales from the latest issue of a boy's favorite comic book, dealing with a vengeful wooden Native American, a monstrous blob in a lake, and an undying hitchhiker.

Creepshow 2

1987

The Alamo poster
7.1

The legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.

The Alamo

1960

Cheyenne Autumn poster
6.7

A reluctant cavalry Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyenne.

Cheyenne Autumn

1964

Rio Lobo poster
6.5

After the Civil War, a former Union colonel searches for the two traitors whose perfidy led to the loss of a close friend.

Rio Lobo

1970

The Sugarland Express poster
6.6

Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.

The Sugarland Express

1974

Ulzana's Raid poster
6.9

After fierce war chief Ulzana and a small war party jump the reservation bent on murder and terror, an inexperienced young lieutenant is assigned to track him down.

Ulzana's Raid

1972

Big Jake poster
6.8

An aging Texas cattle man who has outlived his time swings into action when outlaws kidnap his grandson.

Big Jake

1971

Auntie Mame poster
7.0

Mame Dennis, a progressive and independent woman of the 1920s, is left to care for her nephew Patrick after his wealthy father dies. Conflict ensues when the executor of the father's estate objects to the aunt's lifestyle and tries to force her to send Patrick to prep school.

Auntie Mame

1958

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean poster
6.5

Outlaw and self-appointed lawmaker Judge Roy Bean rules over an empty stretch of the West that gradually grows, under his iron fist, into a thriving town, while dispensing his his own quirky brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by.

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean

1972

Sometimes a Great Notion poster
6.9

Hank Stamper and his father, Henry, own and operate the family business by cutting and shipping logs in Oregon. The town is furious when they continue working despite the town going broke and the other loggers go on strike ordering the Stampers to stop, however Hank continues to push his family on cutting more trees. Hank's wife wishes he would stop and hopes that they can spend more time together. When Hank's half brother Leland comes to work for them, more trouble starts.

Sometimes a Great Notion

1971

Seven Alone poster
6.2

A fictionalized account of the real-life adventure of the Sager family. Travelling with a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon, things are going well for the Sagers, until father Sager dies from blood poisoning following an Indian attack, and mother Sager dies soon afterward from pneumonia. The leaders of the wagon train decide to send the children back, but the oldest, John (who had been described by all the adults as lazy and worthless), decides to lead his siblings through the wilderness to complete the journey their parents started.

Seven Alone

1974

The Cheyenne Social Club poster
6.3

Cowboy John O'Hanlan is surprised to learn that someone's left him a business in Cheyenne, Wyoming. He sets out to claim it, only to discover it's a brothel.

The Cheyenne Social Club

1970

Seven Ways from Sundown poster
5.9

A Texas Ranger must capture an outlaw and take him-in, while tangling with savage Apaches and greedy bounty-hunters on the way back to jail.

Seven Ways from Sundown

1960

Hickey & Boggs poster
5.9

Two veteran private eyes trigger a criminal reign of terror with their search for a missing girl. | Al Hickey (Cosby) & Frank Boggs (Culp) are two jaded private investigators who get hired to find a missing woman and quickly find themselves submerged in a world of murder and untruths.

Hickey & Boggs

1972

The Captive: The Longest Drive 2 poster
5.0

During a Cavalry massacre at an Indian village, two brothers, searching for their captured sister, rescue a white woman long ago kidnapped by the Cheyenne. They ride for their lives, haunted by the chant of the tribal Death Song.

The Captive: The Longest Drive 2

1976

The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang poster
3.9

A light-hearted view of the Dalton Gang's legendary raid on Coffeyville, Kansas and the years leading up to it as the brothers form themselves into a gang of horse thieves and train and bank robbers with their arch enemy, Detective Will Smith, constantly on their heels.

The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang

1979

Mackintosh and T.J. poster
6.2

Roy is a ranch hand and a drifter. He takes a young man into his care and helps him to grow up.

Mackintosh and T.J.

1975

Squares poster
8.0

A Vassar school dropout meets a hard luck rodeo cowboy.

Squares

1972