Alexis Smith

Tall, glamorous lead and second lead of the 1940s and 50s who later enjoyed success on Broadway and in occasional character roles in film. Discovered while in college, Smith was signed in 1940 by Warner Bros. where she would stay for the next and busiest decade of her career. Although featured in a number of major films opposite star actors including Errol Flynn ("Gentleman Jim" 1942, "San Antonio" 1945), Fredric March ("The Adventures of Mark Twain" 1944), Jack Benny ("The Horn Blows at Midnight" 1945), Cary Grant ("Night and Day" 1946), Clark Gable ("Any Number Can Play" 1949) and Joel McCrea ("South of St. Louis" 1949), Smith too often was wasted in standard leading lady roles. At her best, though, she did manage to make a good impression; her quiet performance as the object of the murderous Humphrey Bogart's affections in "Conflict" (1945) almost steals the film from the flashier Bogie and Sydney Greenstreet.

After parting company with Warner Bros. in 1950, Smith began freelancing, but was reduced to supporting roles late in the decade. She did, however, enjoy several meaty parts in which her intelligence and talent for playing disarming schemers and beguiling opportunists came to the fore. She made a vivid impression in Dick Powell's hair-trigger directorial debut, "Split Second" (1953) and gave one of her finest performances in Joseph Losey's British-produced "The Sleeping Tiger" (1954).

Happily married to actor Craig Stevens since 1944, Smith all but retired by 1960, but in 1971 reemerged on the Broadway stage, winning a Tony and a New York Drama Critics award for her vibrant performance in the Stephen Sondheim musical, "Follies." Further stage work included "Summer Brave" (1975), "Sunset" (1977), and a Tony-nominated turn in the short-lived Broadway musical "Platinum" (1978). The discussion about Smith in Rita Mae Brown's autobiographical "Rubyfruit Jungle", meanwhile, helped insure her minor cult status. Smith also worked regularly on TV and returned to the big screen occasionally, as in her last performance in a small but dignified role as a society matron in "The Age of Innocence" (1993).