Actor Lane Smith Dies at 69

Lane Smith, who won a Drama Desk Award for his performance as James Lingk in the original 1984 Broadway production of Glengarry Glen Ross and who did a stint as Randle Patrick McMurphy in the 1960s Off-Broadway production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, died of ALS on June 13 in California at age 69.

Smith’s other New York stage credits include the short-lived 1975 Broadway play The Leaf People and such Off-Broadway productions as The Honest-to-God Schnozzla (1969) and Jack Gelber’s Barbary Shore, which ran at The Public Theater in 1974 with Estelle Parsons and Rip Torn starring.

The actor’s television roles included Perry White in the hit series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, which starred Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain; Reverend Jeremiah Brown in the 1999 TV adaptation of Inherit The Wind, which starred Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott; and Richard Nixon in the 1989 telefilm The Final Days. Among the films in which Smith appears are My Cousin Vinny, Prince of the City, The Mighty Ducks, and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

Smith is survived by his wife, Debbie Benedict Smith; his 18-year-old son from a previous marriage, Robbie; and a brother, sister, and stepson.