Studied kung fu for eight years with Jimmy Woo and kenpo karate master Ed Parker. The network wanted Smith for the role, but producer Jerry Thorpe ultimately deemed him too muscular and menacing. Motorcycle accidents and knee injuries from martial arts took their toll on him. Filmed an eight-minute test pilot portraying Caine for the TV series Kung Fu (1972), wearing prosthetic eyepieces to make him appear Chinese. Today, I'd guess Smith to be a weak 6'1"/strong 6'0" based off that photo. As I recall, the fan was about 5'8", and Smith didn't tower him the way a 6'2" man would. Webmaster Rob used to have a photo of Smith with a fan that was taken within the last few years at a convention-when he would have been in his late seventies. Same as Caridi: two inch difference between Eastwood and Smith-and I believe that Eastwood was 6'4" in his prime and was still at this height until the late 80s/early 90s. Although it was cited earlier: Smith stood nose-to-nose and alongside Eastwood in enough instances where decent comparisons could be made-specifically, the Palomino bar fight when Jack Wilson and Philo Beddoe clean house. Speaking of 6'4" actors: Smith co-starred in a little Eastwood film from 1980 titled ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN. There is no massive difference-and frankly, I was surprised at how well Smith stacked up against THE GODFATHER II & III alumnus Caridi-a very imposing man himself. Standing nose-to-nose with strong 6'4" Carmine Caridi, Smith is about 1.5" - 2" shorter. I disagree even more when you watch Smith in 1976's HOLLYWOOD MAN. was shot-there's no way he lost height at that point. Smith was around 36 or 37 years old when C.C. The man wasn't 6'1" in his prime-he always stacks up evenly against legit 6'2" actors and he holds his own against 6'3" - 6'4" actors-far more prominently than what a 6'1" man would. (Namath) when they're standing nose-to-nose, they are identical-as in zero difference. & COMPANY again-right before the brawl along the riverbank between Moon (Smith) and C.C. He was considerably shorter than David Hasselhoff (6'4") and Fred Dryer (6'6") in the Knight Rider and Hunter television show episodes. Also, in the Rockford Files pilot episode, in which Smith plays a thug chasing Rockford, Smith's character's drivers license lists him as being 6'1", 210 pounds. Smith was shorter than the 6'2" listed Joe Namath in CC& Comapny. Certainly over six foot, but unlikely to have been a strong six two. He was clearly being made to look taller than he was in Every Which Way as a opponent for Clint Eastwood who was comparable to Osmond. He was a reliable actor that never let the film down and had serious muscles so they could boost him a little for effect. I think camerawork and lifts because of type of parts he played. In cheapo Invasion of the Bee Girls he is the lead and he does not look as big as one would expect beside actors of that era, and beside Humphry Osmond he was towered. Maybe his upper body development created something of an optical illusion, but Smith often looked like he had a rather small head for a man two inches over six foot. Does not look like he has anything like four inches on Rod Taylor in Darker than Amber and Smith was surely not made to look smaller than he was in that famous fight scene (supposedly reshot after it got real) because he was playing a giant muscle psycho that Taylor's hero character ends up getting almost beaten to death by and staggering away from covered in blood.
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