Alexis Smith

Statuesque, smart Canadian-born with blue/green eyes and a seductively husky voice, who lent a touch of class to her leading ladies of the 1940’s and 50’s. Alexis already performed in ballet at the age of thirteen. She graduated in drama from the Los Angeles City College, having previously won an acting contest while still at high school. During a performance of a play on campus, she was spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout and signed to a contract in 1941. Until the early 1950’s, she was paired with the top male stars in Hollywood, including Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Bing Crosby. While often simply decorative (as, for example, in ‘Of Human Bondage’,1946, and ‘Stallion Road’,1947,), stylishly attired by costume designers like Milo Anderson and Helen Rose in the most glamorous gowns, Alexis also proved her mettle as a spirited actress, in spite of relatively few opportunities to break out of the mould of the seductress or the ‘other woman’.

At the beginning of her career, the studio’s publicity department touted Alexis, much to her chagrin, as the ‘Dynamite Girl’. While she claimed in later years to have typecast herself, and that few of her assigned roles ever challenged her on any level, Alexis frequently enjoyed good critical reviews for many of her performances. She was also popular with directors and film crews who appreciated her relaxed, professional manner on the set.

To begin with, she was cast in two of four films she was to make with Errol Flynn: ‘Dive Bomber’ (1941) and the boxing drama ‘Gentleman Jim’ (1942). Though decidedly second fiddle to both the action and the charismatic Flynn, Alexis made a good first impression as the fetching romantic interest. Her next performance, in ‘The Constant Nymph’ (1943), opposite Charles Boyer, was described by a reviewer as an ‘intelligent rendition’. Her biggest hit of the mid-40’s, was as Cole Porter’s wife in the inaccurate, but hugely successful biopic, ‘Night and Day’ (1946). She also appeared in two films with Humphrey Bogart at his most menacing: the interesting and underrated ‘Conflict’ (1944), and the excellent ‘The Two Mrs. Carrolls’ (1947). As Clark Gable’s wife in the gambling drama ‘Any Number Can Play’ (1949), critics again lauded Alexis as ‘genuinely appealing’. In between, there were also some conspicuous failures, in particular, her somewhat stolid performance in the period drama ‘The Woman in White’ (1948). She had little to do in ‘Here Comes the Groom’ and ‘The Turning Point’ and her best part in the 1950’s, though small, was that of Carol Wharton in ‘The Young Philadelphians’ (1958). During the 1960’s, Alexis took a sabbatical from the screen to appear on stage with her husband, the actor Craig Stevens (her marriage, a rare Hollywood success, lasted 49 years) in ’Critic’s Choice’, ‘Cactus Flower’ and ‘Mary,Mary’.

Alexis reserved her best acting for the stage, becoming the Tony Award-winning star of Stephen Sondheim’s musical ‘Follies’, in which she played Phyllis during the 1971 run on Broadway and at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles in 1972. In 1973, she played Sylvia Fowler in a revival of Clare Boothe Luce’s ‘The Women’, and was nominated for another Tony for her leading role of Lila Halliday in ‘Platinum’ in 1979.

On television, Alexis was seen infrequently from the mid-1950’s, sometimes appearing on the same show opposite her husband. She had a recurring role as the homicidal Lady Jessica Montfort in ‘Dallas’ during the 1984 and 1990 seasons and was nominated for an Emmy for a guest-starring role on ‘Cheers’. It was fitting, or, perhaps, ironic, that her last film role (‘The Age of Innocence’, 1993) was as a New York socialite, a type of character she had portrayed abundantly in her heyday at Warners. —IMDb