J. Scott Smart
| J. Scott Smart | |
|---|---|
Smart in 1933.
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| Born |
November 27, 1902 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | January 15, 1960 (aged 57) Springfield, Ohio |
| Other names | Jack Smart |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse(s) | Alice Coy Wright (1931 - ?) Mary-Leigh Smart (nee Call) (1951 - 1960, his death) |
| Children | None |
J. Scott Smart, born John Kenley Tener Smart, also known as Jack Smart (November 27, 1902 – January 15, 1960), was an American radio, film and stage actor during the 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s.
Smart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family later moved to Buffalo, where he was a 1922 graduate of Lafayette High School. He also attended Miami Military Institute.
Smart told a reporter that, before entering show business, he held 30 jobs in three years. Those jobs included selling shoe polish, heaving coal on a boat, being fire chief in a factory, drawing cartoons for a newspaper and designing ads for an advertising agency.
When he was 21, Smart began acting in stock theater in Buffalo, New York. He acted there for five years. After that, a friend set up an audition for a program on NBC. The result was Smart's first role on radio, that of a singing waiter on Whispering Tables. His Broadway credits include A Bell for Adano (1944) and Separate Rooms (1939).
Smart is best known for his lead as Brad Runyon in the detective show The Fat Man, which aired on ABC Radio from 1946 to 1951.(See Laughlin 1994, Dunning 1976, Buxton and Owen 1996.) Jack was a regular on The March of Time and The Fred Allen Show. In fact, he played so many character roles during the early days of radio drama that he became known as the "Lon Chaney of Radio". Jack was also an accomplished stage actor and played roles in major productions of A Bell For Adano and Waiting for Godot. He appeared in many movies, including Kiss of Death and the movie version of The Fat Man. A running gag in the film was Smart getting in and out of the car he rented - a tiny MG! The film was an early major role for Rock Hudson. He vied with noted other rotund actor Bud Stevens for roles requiring fat fellows. In his later life,
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