Ray Smith (actor)

Early life

Smith was born in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, but lived for most of his adult life in Dinas Powys. He became interested in acting while he was at school and became determined not to become a miner like his father, who had been killed in a pit accident when Smith was only three years old.

After leaving school Smith became a builder's labourer. Following national service, in the army, he began acting professionally at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cardiff, then joined the Swansea Grand Theatre as an assistant stage manager. He later moved to London, where he spent a year unemployed before he landed a part in a play about the Hungarian uprising.

Television career

Smith made his television debut in Shadows of Heroes in 1959, and then his appearances in series such as Z-Cars and A Family at War made him known to the public. He also appeared as Detective Inspector Percy Firbank in Public Eye, a role he started playing in 1971. Two years later came one of his most famous roles, as George Barraclough in Sam, one of Granada Television's drama series set in northern England.

Later years

Ray Smith died at the age of 55 in the lounge of Llandough Hospital after a major heart attack. He had been shooting one of his last scenes in the television adaptation of Kingsley Amis's novel The Old Devils when he was taken ill on location in Newport. An onscreen credit dedicated the series The Old Devils to his memory and his performance in it won him a posthumous BAFTA Cymru Award (Best Actor) in 1992.

His son was the musician Huw Justin Smith, a.k.a. Pepsi Tate.