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Martha Smith profile
Actor

Martha Smith

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

These indicators come from TMDB. They are relative signals, not review ratings.

Acting credits

22

Active

Consistent number of acting credits.

TMDB popularity

0.5

Low visibility

TMDB internal trend index. Higher usually means more searches and page activity now.

Movies: 10Series: 12

TMDB ID: 55197

IMDb ID: nm0006700

Known for: Acting

Born: October 16, 1952

Age: 73

Place of birth: Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Gender: Female

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1974 - 2018

Years active: 45

Average TMDB rating: 6.87

Wikidata: Q1632943

Biography

Out of her hundreds of TV appearances, Martha Smith is perhaps best known as "Francine Desmond", intelligence agent (and nemesis of star Kate Jackson) on the CBS series "Scarecrow and Mrs. King" (1983). Raised in Farmington, MI, Martha--an honor student with a mention in "Who's Who of American Students"--enrolled in Michigan State University at 17 to study psychology. She soon became an in-demand model and spokeswoman, whose travel demands uprooted her from her studies. She was "discovered" by a scout for "Playboy" magazine, selected as a centerfold (Miss July 1973) and promptly sent back on the road on press junkets. That road led to California. With the support of Universal Studios Contract Department, Martha honed her thespian skills in workshops while appearing in featured TV roles ("How the West Was Won" (1978), "Quincy M.E." (1976), "Charlie's Angels" (1976), etc.). Her first major film role was in the comedy blockbuster Animal House (1978), where her "Barbara 'Babs' Jansen" character, a devious cheerleader, was arch-rival to John Belushi's "Bluto". Shortly after, she shared star billing with Debbie Allen in the CBS pilot Ebony, Ivory and Jade (1979) (TV), which marked her professional singing/dancing debut.

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