Kurtwood Smith

He spent his 20s and 30s teaching theater at a community college and grinding stage roles in Northern California. When he finally moved to Los Angeles at 35 to try film, he got bit parts for years. Then, at 43, Paul Verhoeven cast him as Clarence Boddicker in RoboCop, and suddenly he was one of the most memorable villains in an era that didn't lack for them. He admitted he "hadn't done anything big at that point." The character worked because Verhoeven let him make Boddicker unpredictable, the kind of guy who laughs before he shoots you.

The Boddicker villain template eventually gave way to Red Forman, the grouchy Korean War vet dad on That '70s Show, a role he played for eight seasons and 201 episodes. Red became a cultural shorthand for a certain kind of withering, unimpressed fatherhood. When Netflix revived the universe as That '90s Show in 2023, Smith and Debra Jo Rupp reprised their roles, but Netflix canceled it after two seasons in October 2024. The "foot in your ass" era had its second ending before fans were ready for it.

His biological father, a WWII pilot, was killed in action before Smith turned two. Decades later, he modeled Red Forman's walk, voice, and demeanor on his stepfather, the man who actually raised him, and that stepfather died months before That '70s Show premiered and never saw it. His name is a mother's invention: she liked a country singer named "Kurt" but thought it was too short, so she added "wood." Coworkers on both RoboCop and That '70s Show reportedly described him as one of the nicest people on set. The meanest man in the room kept it entirely on screen.