RIP Dean Smith

 Legendary hall-of-fame Texoman passes

KFSX/KJTL

By Darrell Franklin

June 24m 2023

 

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A Hollywood actor and stuntman who was first an Olympiad Gold Medalist, a true cowboy who was always proud to call Texoma home, has died.

A social media post from his son, Finis, said that Dean Smith passed away this morning. He was 91. Smith grew up between Graham and Breckenridge on the same thousand acres of land he and his wife Debby raised their son, Dean’s youngest son, Finis.

As a Graham Steer in the late 1940s, Smith earned All-American status running the 100-meter dash. His success continued at the University of Texas, where he won eight southwest conference titles and was a member of the 440-yard relay team that set a world record.

Dean Smith then took his talents to the world stage in the 1952 Olympics, where he helped the United States earn a gold medal in the 400-meter relay.

He also finished 4th in the 100-meter dash.

Smith was also an all-state football running back for the Graham Steers and was a member of the 1953 Cotton Bowl winning Texas Longhorns.

Smith later turned down an opportunity to play pro football to become a Hollywood stuntman, a career that lasted over 45-years. It was an old friend, James Garner, who helped Smith break into the movie business.

Then, while stunt-doubling and doing bit parts, like holding Rosalind Russell and trying to get her up on a horse in ‘AuntiE Mame’, Smith caught the eye of a Hollywood legend.

Smith had this to say in the summer of 2005: “I had never met John Ford until 1959, and we were working on the movie “The Alamo” and I ran and jumped over a horse.”

That jump actually landed Smith work on every John Ford film that followed. It also earned him a spot with the A-list western crowd.

Smith/2005: “When I met that John Ford, John Wayne clan, with Ben Johnson, Ken Curtis, Sons of the Pioneers, those guys, I was probably the last young fellow to join that group you see, and that was something that would really make you proud.”

Smith said it took about a year before he could even say a word to John Wayne because he was in such awe of him.

Over time, though, their friendship developed, and the roles kept coming. Smith even doubled for Maureen O’Hara in McLintock!.

Smith/2005: “She had to back out of the two-story building. I fell in the hay wagon and slipped, damn near broke my ankle. So, I had to do it again, and I never will forget laying there in that wagon, and looking up at Wayne, and he jumped off there and just shook that wagon when he hit.”

Through the years, stunt-doubling opened a lot of opportunities for Smith.

He did every stunt for Robert Redford in ‘Jeremiah Johnson,’ and besides stunt and acting parts in many other movies, Smith starred in his own film, ‘Seven Alone.’

Smith was a member of the Hollywood Stuntman’s Hall of Fame. In 1997, he was named “All American Cowboy.” In 2006, he was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the Texas Track and Field Coaches Association Hall of Fame. In 2007, he received the Silver Spur Award for his contributions as a stuntman in the film business.

Also, about ten years ago, Smith released his autobiography, Cowboy Stuntman from Olympic Gold to the Silver Screen, about a boy from the Graham area who worked hard and made it big.

Funeral services are pending through Morrison Funeral Home in Graham.

SMITH, Dean (Finis Dean Smith)

Born: 1/15/1932, Breckenridge, Texas, U.S.A.

Died: 6/24/2023, Breckenridge, Texas, U.S.A.

 

Dean Smith’s westerns – stuntman, stunt coordinator, actor:

Cheyenne (TV) – 1957 [stunts]

Maverick (TV) – 1957 [stunts]

Born Reckless – 1958 (cowboy) [stunts]

The Law and Jake Wade – 1958 (soldier) [stunts]

Quantrill’s Raiders – 1958 (raider) [stunts]

Cimarron City (TV) - 1958 [stunts]

Rio Bravo – 1959 (card-playing Burdette henchman) [stunts]

They Came to Cordura – 1959

The Alamo – 1960 (Bowie’s man) [stunts]

Laramie (TV) – 1959 [stunts]

Overland Trail (TV) – 1960 [stunts]

Seven Ways from Sundown – 1960 (Hanley henchman) [stunts]

Bat Masterson (TV) – 1960 [stunts]

Tales of Wells Fargo (TV) – 1960, 1961, 1962 (Michael, guard) [stunts]

The Tall Man (TV) – 1960 [stunts]

Wagon Train (TV) – 1960, 1964 [stunts]

Gunfight at Black Horse Canyon (TV) - 1961 [stunts]

Two Rode Together – 1961 (officer) [stunts]

The Comancheros – 1971 [stunts]

How The West Was Won – 1962 [stunts]

Have Gun – Will Travel (TV) – 1962 (wagon driver)

McLintock! – 1963 (rodeo rider) [stunts]

Blood on the Arrow – 1964 [stunt coordinator, stunts]

Cheyenne Autumn – 1964 (trooper)

A Distant Trumpet – 1964 [stunts]

Rio Conchos – 1964 [stunts]

The Virginian (TV) – 1964, 1965 (Rurlale, brawler) [stunts]

Wagon Train (TV) – 1964 (Jim)

El Dorado – 1966 (Charlie Hagan) [stunts]

Stagecoach – 1966 [stunts]

Cimarron Strip (TV) – 1967 (deputy)

Iron Horse (TV) – 1966, 1967 (Corporal Weddell, gunfighter, rider) [stunt coordinator, stunts]

The Legend of Jesse James (TV) – 1966 (Deke)

The Loner (TV) – 1966 (Vic)

The War Wagon – 1967 [stunts]

The Scalphunters – 1968 [stunts]

The Stalking Moon – 1968 [stunts]

The Outcasts (TV) - 1968 [stunts]

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – 1969 [stunts]

True Grit – 1969 [stunts]

The Cheyenne Social Club – 1970 (Bannister henchman) [stunts]

Little Big Man – 1970

Rio Lobo – 1970 (Bide) [stunts]

Big Jake – 1971 (Kid Duffy) [stunts]

Jeremiah Johnson – 1972 [stunts]

The Legend of Nigger Charlie – 1972 [stunts]

Ulzana’s Raid – 1972 (Horowitz) [stunts]

The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean – 1973 (outlaw) [stunts]

The Train Robbers – 1973 [stunts]

Westworld – 1973 [stunts]

Mrs. Sundance (TV) – 1974 (Avery)

Seven Alone – 1974 (Kit Carson) [stunts]

Hearts of the West – 1975 [stunts]

Mackintosh & T.J. – 1975(Bent) [stunts]

The Captive: The Longest Drive 2 – 1976

The Quest (TV) – 1976 (Jess)

How the West Was Won (TV) – 1978 [stunt coordinator]

The Last Ride of the Dalton Gang (TV) – 1979 (Parker deputy)

The Legend of the Golen Gun (TV) – 1979 [stunts]

Bret Maverick (TV) – 1981 (Jack Danner)

Timestalkers (TV) – 1987

Paradise (TV) – 1991 (The Man)

The Quick and the Dead – 1995 [stunts]

Rough Riders (TV) – 1997 [stunts]

All Around Performance Horse (2006)

Floating Horses: The Life of Casey Tibbs - 2017