Paul Lawrence Smith (June 24, 1936 – April 25, 2012) was an American actor. Burly, bearded and imposing, he appeared in feature films and occasionally on television since the 1960s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys. His most notable roles include Hamidou, the vicious prison guard in Midnight Express (1978), Bluto in Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), Gideon in the ABC miniseries Masada (1981), Glossu "Beast" Rabban in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Falkon in Red Sonja (1985). He was most frequently credited as Paul Smith or Paul L. Smith, but was also billed as P. L. Smith and Paul Lawrence Smith.
Smith's first acting role, at age 24, was in Otto Preminger's 1960 epic Exodus, which was filmed in Israel. This was his first visit to the country. In 1967, Smith returned to Israel as a Mahal volunteer in the Six-Day War and remained for six years, appearing in locally filmed features and television productions. He received director credit on the 1970 documentary Milhemet 20 HaShanim (War of 20 Years) and the 1972 crime drama Jacko Vehayatzaniot (Jacko and the Prostitute or Tel Aviv Call Girls).
Between 1973 and 1977, Smith made a series of films with Michael Coby (pseudonym of Antonio Cantafora), a couple formed with the purpose of copying the successful films of the duo Terence Hill and Bud Spencer.[1][2] Smith played Bud Spencer-like characters while Coby was a Terence Hill lookalike in Bud & Terence-fashion.[3] One of these films, Convoy Buddies, was selected for American release by Film Ventures International, and producer Edward L. Montoro changed Smith's name to "Bob Spencer" and Cantafora's name to "Terrence Hall". Smith sued,[4] successfully arguing that an actor's name recognition is vital to his career. The judicial system agreed and ruled against FVI, which paid Smith damages and court costs.[5]
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