Mark Smith (actor, born 1887)

Mark Smith (April 16, 1887 – May 9, 1944) was an American actor of stage, radio, and film. A fourth-generation American actor, he was a member of the Smith family of performers. He should not be confused with his grandfather and his father who also performed under the name Mark Smith.

Smith had a prolific career as both a stage and radio actor in New York City, and served a term as president of the New York chapter of the American Federation of Radio Artists. One of his better known radio characters was the role of Jiggs in Bringing Up Father. He also voiced the roles of Pop Foyle on Kitty Foyle, Deputy Paar on the murder mystery anthology Murder Clinic, and portrayed several characters on The Cisco Kid.

He appeared in many Broadway plays and musicals from 1903 through 1941, notably creating roles in original musicals by Kurt Weil, Vincent Youmans, Rudolf Friml, and Silvio Hein, and starring in original plays by David Belasco, Edgar Selwyn, William Le Baron, Guy Bolton and George Middleton among others. Smith also had roles in seven silent films that were released between the years 1915 and 1920. At the time of his death in 1944 The New York Times stated that he had performed in 70 different theaters in New York during his career, and "had appeared in more than 2,000 radio programs".