Biography

Kurtwood Smith

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Kurtwood Smith was born on July 3, 1943 in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for RoboCop (1987), Broken Arrow (1996) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). He has been married to Joan Pirkle since November 5, 1988. He was previously married to Cecilia Souza.

Originally auditioned for the role of Dick Jones in RoboCop (1987), and when he found out he had been cast, he thought that was the role he had gotten. He later found out that he would be playing Clarence Boddicker.
Won the role of Red Forman on That '70s Show (1998), which is set near Milwaukee, WI. Smith was the only cast member who actually was from Wisconsin (which is a Native American term for "land of red stone").
Has played four dissimilar characters in the Star Trek universe: the Federation President in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), Thrax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993), Annorax on Star Trek: Voyager (1995), and Clar on Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020).
Received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre from San Jose College in San Jose, California (1965). Received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from Stanford University in Stanford, California (1969).
"Kurtwood" is his real first name. According to an interview with him on Caroline Rhea's syndicated television show (April 8, 2003), his mother was a huge fan of a country singer named Kurt (or Curt) in the early 1940s. However, she thought "Kurt Smith" was too short a name, so she added "wood"--"she just tacked it on to the end", said Smith. His mother because she felt there already too many people named Kurt.

I love playing villains. When you're a bad guy, you get to do many real nasty things. It's a lot of fun.
[on the long-standing rumor of Chuck Norris being offered his 'Red Forman' role]: It's not true at all. It certainly was a well-spread rumor. I remember asking the producers about it at one point and they were, 'No, who told you that?' That was all pretty much made up.
[on his favorite role or project] Certainly 'That '70s Show' is one, and I'll have to say that working on 'RoboCop' and the character I played did a lot for me and got me a lot of attention. I loved doing 'Dead Poets Society'. One of my most favorite things to do was a show on Amazon called 'Patriot'. We only got to do two seasons, but I think they're really good.
[on the chemistry with Debra Jo Rupp on 'That '70s Show'] I did audition with her. She was already cast, and they were casting my role. I was the last person cast. So when I went in to read the final reading, I don't know what his position was at the time, but he had a really big office. So I read with Debra Jo there. I guess we must've hit it off, you know. I thought she was very funny, and she was. We had a great time.

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