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Roger LaVerne Smith, a debonair, dark-haired, and strikingly handsome man, was born in South Gate, California, to Dallas and Leone Smith on December 18, 1932. At six years old, his parents enrolled him in a professional school for singing, elocution, and dancing lessons. By the time he was twelve, the family had relocated to Nogales, Arizona, a small town on the Mexican border, where he participated in high school theater productions, served as president of the school's acting club, and excelled as a star linebacker on the football team.
While attending the University of Arizona in Tucson on a football scholarship, Roger won several amateur talent contests as a singer and guitarist, leading to a TV appearance on Ted Mack's The Original Amateur Hour (1948). While stationed in Hawaii with the Naval Reserve, he met film legend James Cagney, who, impressed by Roger’s clean-cut looks and charm, encouraged him to pursue a career in Hollywood. Roger took the advice, and Columbia Pictures signed him in 1957.
At Columbia, Roger gained experience on TV anthologies such as Damon Runyon Theatre, Celebrity Playhouse, Ford Television Theatre, and George Sanders Mystery Theatre. He also appeared in films including No Time to Be Young (1957), Operation Mad Ball (1957), and Crash Landing (1958). He portrayed the older "Patrick Dennis" in the spirited Rosalind Russell comedy Auntie Mame (1958). Around this time, Roger reconnected with Cagney, who cast him as his son "Lon Jr." in the Lon Chaney biopic Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) and later co-starred with him in the musical comedy-drama Never Steal Anything Small (1959).
After moving to Warner Bros., Roger secured the role of quick-witted private detective Jeff Spencer on the popular TV series 77 Sunset Strip (1958). He also wrote several episodes of the show and reprised the character in crossover episodes of Surfside 6 and Hawaiian Eye. In 1962, he was hospitalized after a fall at home caused loss of consciousness and was diagnosed with a blood clot on the brain. Although he recovered following surgery, this incident forced him to leave the series temporarily and significantly slowed his career, nearly leading him to quit acting.
Roger married Australian-born actress Victoria Shaw in 1956, and they had three children. A Warner Bros. contract player, Shaw appeared in an episode of his series. However, their marriage ended in divorce in 1965. He later married singer-actress Ann-Margret in 1967, a union that lasted 50 years until his death.
Following his lead role in the Warner Bros. TV series Mister Roberts (1965), Roger’s health issues persisted, culminating in a diagnosis of myasthenia gravis, a degenerative muscle and nerve disorder that forced his early retirement. His last starring role was as the detective in the low-budget A.C. Lyles production Rogue’s Gallery (1968). During this period, he appeared on talk shows with his wife and explored producing and writing, working on The First Time (1969) and C.C. & Company (1970).
Roger then stepped back from acting to focus on managing, producing, and supporting his wife’s musical career. In the 1970s, he played a key role in her Las Vegas comeback by producing her stage shows and helped reshape her public image with critically acclaimed films and several 1970s TV musical specials.
Roger Smith passed away from complications related to his long-term illness on June 4, 2017, at age 84. He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
