Alexis Smith

Margaret Alexis Smith, known professionally as Alexis Smith, was born on June 8, 1921 in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada, the only child of Gladys Mabel Fitz‑Simmons and Alexander Smith. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was about one year old, and she grew up on Hollywood Boulevard, attending Hollywood High School alongside future star Nanette Fabray. After studying ballet at the Hollywood Bowl and performing in a school production at Los Angeles City College, she was discovered by a Warner Bros. talent scout in 1940 and signed to a studio contract. Smith’s early screen work consisted of uncredited bit parts, but her first credited role came in Dive Bomber (1941) opposite Errol Flynn, which launched Warner’s effort to groom her as a leading lady. Throughout the 1940s she co‑starred with icons such as Flynn, Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant and Ronald Reagan in hits like Gentleman Jim, The Constant Nymph, San Antonio, and The Woman in White, often portraying the glamorous “other woman” while also dazzling audiences as a pin‑up girl and singer. By 1949 she negotiated her release from Warner Bros., seeking more varied roles and greater artistic control. She once remarked that she “more often than not played the other woman.”
After leaving Warner, Smith diversified into television, radio, and stage work, appearing in productions such as Bell, Book and Candle and Private Lives. Her Broadway breakthrough arrived in 1971 when she originated the role of Phyllis Rogers Stone in Hal Prince’s production of Follies, earning her a 1972 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. Subsequent stage successes included revivals of The Women, the ill‑fated musical Platinum, and a national tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Smith continued to act in film and television into the 1980s, with notable appearances in Once Is Not Enough, The Age of Innocence, and a recurring role on Dallas as the unstable Lady Jessica Montford. She died of brain cancer on June 9, 1993, the day after her 72nd birthday, leaving behind her husband of 49 years, actor Craig Stevens.