Dallas star William Smithers dead at 98 following iconic TV career

Dallas star William Smithers has died at age 98, following a long and illustrious career with over 400 projects to his name. The actor passed away on May 26 in Santa Barbara, California, where he lived with his wife until she died in 2022. 

William was a respected TV and stage actor who started on Broadway opposite famed actress Olivia de Havilland in Romeo and Juliet, before appearing in Legend of Lovers with Richard Burton and The Shadow of a Gunman with Bruce Dern. 

He moved to Los Angeles in 1965 to pursue an onscreen career, and appeared in Peyton Place, Star Trek and Hawaii Five-O. William also earned film roles in Papillon with Steve McQueen and Trouble Man, amongst others. 

He is perhaps best known for his role in Dallas, in which he starred as Jeremy Wendell, CEO of WestStar Oil, opposite Larry Hagman. William appeared in 50 episodes throughout the show’s run, and shared in an interview that working with the legendary star was thrilling for him. 

“[Working with Larry] was always a challenge because [their characters] were always competitors because of the scripts,” he said. 

“Larry was a strong actor. I feel like I had to be at the top of my game when I was working with him. It was very stimulating.”

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He added that he was “paid very little” for his role on the show, and ultimately left over a pay dispute. “My agent was convinced that they would come to the figure that we asked for, but they didn’t. So that ended the whole thing.”

The star was also known for his involvement in a famous lawsuit against MGM in 1976, after he acted in the CBS series Executive Suite. William sued MGM with claims that they had violated his contract, as it had stated no other cast member would receive more money or higher billing than himself, bar three actors. 

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He claimed that an MGM executive had threatened to blacklist him from the industry if he went ahead with the lawsuit. “At first, Smithers had caved to this threat, but when the violations were repeated despite his protests, he, though advised by counsel he could endanger his career, decided to take action,” his website explains.

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Thankfully, he won the suit, and the case is now taught in entertainment law courses. The Virginia native turned his eye back to theater in the ’00s and started Santa Barbara Theater of the Air for radio, which broadcast plays for people to listen to.  

He also co-hosted and co-produced the TV program Just Between Us with his wife, S. Lorraine Boos Hull, from 2010 to 2013.