Cinema Honey

My Youthful Celebrity Crush!

William Smith

When I was in grade school, Saturday nights were my party nights, alone in my bedroom watching television in 1978BC (Before Cable), when the local NYC stations ran films with mature content after 11pm. 

Mature content as that time was any film that showed a woman's bare back, her suggested sexual interest or mild violence.  With the past years' resurgence of vampires; sexy, rugged, lascivious got me thinking of the first celluloid vampire that stirred my juices.

William Smith as James Eastman the half human/half vampire in the David Chase* penned, Grave of the Vampire (1974).  *David, we all have to start somewhere.

Put any prejudice of the film's execution will be put aside as I reminisce about my lustful tween attractive to a frighteningly attractive man close to my father's age.  

Born in Missouri in 1938, William Smith began acting at the eight of 8, tall, a bodybuilder and stuntman, Smith was mainly cast as villains  and creeps throughout most of his career.  He was the put upon hero in the 1968 biker film, Run Angel Run.   In C.C. & Company Smith kicked Jet’s star Joe Namath's ass in every scene they shared together.    

A student and teacher of the Russian language before turning to acting full time, Smith’s linguistic skill came in handy as he portrayed a Russian commander in the film, Red Dawn.  Only Smith could be cast as the man who could believably sire Conan the Barbarian. 

Great Guns

Educated and secure with himself as an actor Smith gave a riveting performance as an one-eyed, racist, bisexual rapist in the 70s television miniseries, Rich Man, Poor Man and gets beaten bloody by Nick Nolte’s Tom Jordache.  It’s a wonder how he never became a household name like many of his co-stars, Smith has a strong screen presence.

Now in his 80s, Smith participates in film fan conventions and I’ll be sure to attend the next one near New York.