The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum® in Oklahoma City announces the selection of veteran stuntman and actor Dean Smith for Lifetime Achievement recognition during the Museum's 46th Western Heritage Awards April 21, 2007. The black-tie affair honors principal creators in 14 categories of music, literature, television and film. The Chester A. Reynolds Memorial Award recipient as well as inductees to the Hall of Great Western Performers and Hall of Great Westerners also will be honored.

The Lifetime Achievement Award is given to a person or organization who has made a significant contribution to the nation's Western heritage during a period of years, or whose contributions lie outside established Western Heritage Awards categories. Smith, who turns 75 in January 2007, spent 50 years in the movie business as a stuntman and actor who appeared in such memorable big screen Westerns as The Alamo (1960), Two Rode Together (1961), How the West Was Won (1962), McLintock! (1963), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), Stagecoach (1966), True Grit (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1971), and Ulzana's Raid (1972) with Burt Lancaster. Some of the stars he doubled for in these classics include Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Harry Carey Jr., Stuart Whitman and Maureen O'Hara.

"I performed all of the stunts for Redford in Jeremiah Johnson," Smith said. "I've had a wonderful career. I doubled for Duvall in True Grit, Stuart Whitman in The Comancheros, Alex Cord in Stagecoach, and Ben Johnson in Cheyenne Autumn."

Legendary director John Ford provided an instant boost to Smith's reputation when he hired him for three of his pictures after he witnessed Smith double Frankie Avalon in The Alamo. "After I doubled for Roy Rogers in McIntosh and T J which was filmed on the Four Sixes Ranch in Guthrie, Texas, Rogers paid me a compliment," Smith said, "when he told me that if I'd been around in the 1930s, I'd be able to do what he and the other popular movie cowboy actors were doing. But I was too late for acting in Westerns; production was declining. However, I arrived on the scene at a time when stuntmen were in demand and well paid."

In 1957, actor James Garner helped Smith get work in Born Reckless starring Mamie Van Doren. Garner, who he met through a mutual friend, has remained a close pal.

When Westerns dominated television with series like Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Maverick, Bat Masterson, The Iron Horse, Laramie and The Virginian, Smith found plenty of work. In August of 1958, actor Dale Robertson hired Smith to double him in the popular Tales of Wells Fargo series.

By the time Westerns began to wane, Smith's stuntman career was well established. He doubled for Robert Culp in I Spy and for Steve Martin in The Lonely Guy (1984). "In one of Martin's scenes," Smith said, "I dangled from a helicopter as it flew over the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, the Statue of Liberty and other New York landmarks. It was pretty harrowing. In the end, the scene was cut from the final project, but at least I got paid."

Commercials have been a mainstay for Smith whose work has been viewed on Coca-Cola and Kellogg's Sugar Pops and Corn Flakes ads. He made the first Reese's Pieces commercial and was a regular for years on Pabst Blue Ribbon beer and Kemper Insurance spots.

Smith's stuntman success can be credited to his athletic prowess. He won eight Southwest Conference titles in the 100-meter dash. A testament to his speed and agility is an Olympic gold medal won in the 400-meter relay at the 1952 Helsinki games. He was leadoff man on the University of Texas world-record relay team, 1954-1955, and AAA national champion in the 100-meter dash. He played with the Los Angeles Rams during exhibition season and was traded to the Pittsburgh Setters at which time he decided to enter the movie business. He also has won amateur rodeo championships for bareback baron riding and calf roping.

Smith has received many honors including the American Culture Award for Western Movies and the Golden Boot Award. On April 8, 2006, the John Wan Cancer Institute honored him with the "Duke" award for his contributions to cancer research. He has been inducted into the Stuntman's Hall of Fame, University of Texas Hall of Fame, Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2002, Smith put on the first Dean Smith Celebrity Rodeo benefitting the Cowboy Cancer Crusade tribute to Ben Johnson. In 2004, his rodeo benefitted the John Wayne Cancer Institute honoring
 

John Wayne. The 2006 rodeo to be held in Abilene, Texas, October 20-21, will benefit the John Wayne
Cancer Institute honoring The Singing Cowboys.

Smith stays in touch with many of his movie colleagues, especially the ones he's known since his
college days. "I went to the University of Texas with Eli Wallach, L.Q. Jones, Morgan Woodward, Fess Parker and Pat Hingle," says Smith. "We've all had productive careers and continue to support each other and any quality Western project that comes our way."

"All my life I've loved everything from rodeo to Westerns to ranch life," Smith said. "To be honored by this world class Western museum where some of my closest friends have been recognized means as much to me as my Olympic gold medal."

A tile bearing Smith's name will be permanently installed in the Edward L. Gaylord Exhibition Wing along with others the Museum has honored in past years.

Having never lost touch with his roots, Smith retired in 1992 to his ranch in Texas where he and wife, Debby, and seven-year-old son Finis Dean Smith II raise Longhorn cattle and American Quarter Horses. Smith has an adult son, Charles Thomas Smith.

For more information about the Western Heritage Awards or the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, call (405) 478-2250. Accredited by the American Association of Museums, the National Cowboy Museum is located in Oklahoma City's Adventure District at the junction of I-44 and I-35. The National Cowboy Museum is supported through private and corporate donations, including annual memberships.

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