Lane Smith, full name Walter Lane Smith (April 29, 1936 – June 13, 2005) was a U.S. character actor. He is best known for his performance in My Cousin Vinny, as Perry White in The New Adventures of Superman as well as playing Richard Nixon in The Final Days for which he received a Golden Globe award nomination for best actor in a mini-series or motion picture made for television in 1990.

Career

---

Smith was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1936. He graduated from The Leelanau School, a boarding school in Glen Arbor, Michigan (where he is enshrined in that school's Hall of Fame) and spent one year boarding at The Hill School before going off to study at the Actors Studio in the late 1950s and early 1960's along with Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino. After his graduation, he found steady work in New York theater before making his film debut in Maidstone in 1970. During the 1970's, he regularly made appearances in small film roles including Rooster Cogburn in 1975 and Network in 1976. He also acted on television, notably playing a U.S. Marine in Vietnam in the made for television miniseries A Rumor of War.

He made a major breakthrough in 1984 with significant roles in Red Dawn, Places in the Heart and the television series V. Smith earned a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Richard Nixon in the 1989 docudrama The Final Days. He also appeared in the original stage production of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross enjoying a lengthy run.

In 1990, he appeared in Air America playing a corrupt U.S. Senator. He played a small-town district attorney opposite Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny in 1992 followed by a role as Coach Jack Reilly in The Mighty Ducks. Smith played Perry White in Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman between 1993 and 1997. His final film appearance was in The Legend of Bagger Vance in 2000.

Smith was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease in April 2005 and died of the disease at his home in Northridge, California on June 13, 2005. He was 69 years old.

Roles

---

Smith played nearly 80 roles in film and television productions between 1970 and 2003. His most notable roles include:

• Nathan Bates in V 1984
• Richard Nixon in The Final Days 1989
• D.A. Jim Trotter, III in My Cousin Vinny 1992
• Coach Jack Reilly in The Mighty Ducks 1992
• Perry White in The New Adventures of Superman
• Emmett Seaborn in From the Earth to the Moon 1998

References

---

• Leonard Maltin et al Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia: Career Profiles of more than 2,000 Actors and Filmmakers Past and Present Plume Books 1995 ISBN 0452270588
• Biography
• All Movie Guide article on Lane Smith
• San Jose Mercury News report on his death
• ABC Television Southern California obituary of Lane Smith
• Moviehole news story

1936 births | 2005 deaths | American film actors | American television actors | American character actors | Memphians | Actors who portrayed Perry White | Dallas actors | V actors | Alien Nation actors | Deaths from motor neurone disease | Lane Smith