Smith's early acting experience started in 1925 when he was one of the founders of the famed Harvard "University Players", which later included Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Joshua Logan and Margaret Sullavan in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Smith's stock experience also included productions with the Maryland Theatre in Baltimore. His professional acting debut was in 1929 in Blind Window in Baltimore, Mayland. He made his Broadway acting debut in 1932 in Men Must Fight. He also appeared on Broadway in Measure for Measure,Sweet Love Remembered,The Best Man, Ah, Wilderness!, Dodsworth, Saint Joan, Old Acquaintance, Antony and Cleopatra and Bus Stop.
Film
Smith moved to Hollywood, California, where he made his film debut in The Garden Murder Case. His biggest successes occurred during the 1940s in films such as Cat People, Hitler's Children, This Land Is Mine, Three Russian Girls, Youth Runs Wild, The Curse of the Cat People, The Spiral Staircase, Nora Prentiss, Magic Town, My Foolish Heart, The Fountainhead, and The Damned Don't Cry. He continued acting in films such as Comanche, Sayonara, Party Girl, The Mugger, Imitation General, The Badlanders, This Earth Is Mine, Strangers When We Meet, Susan Slade, The Balcony, A Distant Trumpet, Youngblood Hawke, The Young Lovers, The Trouble with Angels, A Covenant with Death, Games, The Money Jungle, Kona Coast, Assignment to Kill, Death of a Gunfighter, The Games, Pete 'n' Tillie, Die Sister, Die!, Lost Horizon and Billy JackGoes to Washington. During WW II, Smith served as a private in the US Army, making training films covering among others, medical, dental, artillery, & electronics.
Television
Regular cast
Kent Smith played the imperious Dr. Morton on the popular series Peyton Place with his actual wife cast as Mrs. Morton. Smith played Edgar Scoville in the second season of the ABC science-fiction series The Invaders and was a host for the CBS anthology series Philip Morris Playhouse.
Guest appearances
Smith had roles in television films such as How Awful About Allan, The Night Stalker, The Judge and Jake Wyler, The Cat Creature, The Affair and The Disappearance of Flight 412. His numerous television credits included a continuing role in the soap operaPeyton Place as Dr. Robert Morton; Smith's wife, actress Edith Atwater, played his character's wife on the series. He began guest-starring in television series in 1949 in The Philco Television Playhouse, and also appeared in Robert Montgomery Presents, Wagon Train, General Electric Theater, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Naked City, Have Gun Will Travel, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Beverly Hillbillies, Rawhide, The Americans, Barnaby Jones, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery, and the 1976 miniseries Once an Eagle. His last appearance was in a 1977 episode of Wonder Woman.
