HOLLYWOOD — Actor Roger Smith, who played a private eye on TV’s “77 Sunset Strip” and who was married to Ann-Margret for more than 50 years, has died. He was 84.
The actor died Sunday morning at a Los Angeles hospital after battling a terminal illness, according to Jack Gilardi, Ann-Margret’s agent. Smith had long struggled with the nerve disease myasthenia.
Smith launched his career in the 1950s when James Cagney spotted him and recommended him for films, according to the Los Angeles Times. He survived two serious illnesses to have a second career after “77 Sunset Strip” as the manager of his second wife, Ann-Margret. They celebrated their 50th anniversary May 8.
Smith co-starred with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. on “77 Sunset Strip” from 1958 to 1963. The show turned both men into stars.
Smith once told The Times that the series aimed to show that private investigators were well-trained, serious men, and not the movie and TV stereotype with “dangling cigarettes and large chips on their shoulders.” He was chosen for the part because “I don’t look like a detective.”
Smith later got the title role in the NBC series based on “Mister Roberts,” the 1955 comedy-drama about Navy life. It lasted from 1965 to 1966.
When he first gained fame, Smith was married to Australian actress Victoria Shaw, with whom he had three children. They divorced in 1965. He wed Ann-Margret in Las Vegas in 1967. Smith later quit acting to manage her career.
“Now in Roger I’ve found all the men I need rolled into one — a father, a friend, a lover, a manager, a businessman,” Ann-Margret told writer Rex Reed in 1972, according to The Times. “It’s perfect for me. I couldn’t exist without a strong man.”
They had no children. She once said she tried in vain to get pregnant. But for decades, Smith guided Ann-Margret’s career with great care.