Ralph Smart

Ralph Smart

producer, writer, director

Ralph Smart was born on Aug 27, 1908 in UK. Ralph Smart's big-screen debut came with His Lordship directed by Michael Powell in 1932. Ralph Smart is known for Never Take No for an Answer directed by Maurice Cloche, Vittorio Manunta stars as Peppino and Denis O'Dea as Father Damico. The upcoming new movie Ralph Smart plays is Koroshi which will be released on Dec 01, 1969.

Ralph Smart was born to Australian parents in the London suburb of Chingford, some ten miles northeast of Charing Cross. He began his professional career in films as an editor, writer and director of documentary shorts in 1927. Smart collaborated on the screenplays of some of Michael Balcon's early films at Gaumont-British, before moving 'down under' to make propaganda films and documentaries for the Australian government during the Second World War. After the war, he worked as producer or producer/director on two seminal films shot by Ealing in Australia: La route est ouverte (1946) and Bush Christmas (1947). From the mid-1950's, he was active again in Britain, affiliated with ITC as writer/producer/director of several popular TV period adventures, notably Robin des bois (1955), The Buccaneers (1956) and William Tell (1958). His best known contribution came about in the 1960's, when he created the action series Destination danger (1960) and its incorruptible lone wolf protagonist John Drake, played brilliantly by Patrick McGoohan. After the show was cancelled in 1966, Smart returned to working as a freelance screenwriter on the short-lived Australian-based series Aventures australes (1969), starring American actor Ty Hardin. Smart settled down in Bowen, Queensland, where the show was filmed and died there in February 2001 at the venerable age of 92.

  • Birthday

    Aug 27, 1908
  • Place of Birth

    Chingford, Essex, England, UK