Smithers was best known for playing Jeremy Wendell on Dallas. Wendell was an oilman determined to one-up J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) at every turn. Smithers played the villain for 50 episodes, and Wendell quickly made J.R.'s schemes look tame. Before his ...

When the lights dimmed on the set of Dallas, a familiar face vanished in real life. William Smithers, the seasoned actor who brought the stoic Jeremy Wendell to the 1980s prime‑time soap, died on May 26 2026 in Santa Barbara, California, at 98.

Actor William Smithers, famous for his role as oil baron Jeremy Wendell on “Dallas,” has died. He was 98 years old. According to an obituary by the Santa Barbara Independent, Smithers died on May 26 in Santa Barbara,

He and Olivia de Havilland made their Broadway debuts in 1951 in 'Romeo and Juliet'; like her, he took on a Hollywood studio in court and won. By Mike Barnes Senior Editor William Smithers, the veteran character actor who as the ruthless oilman Jeremy ...

"We make no pretense of rehabilitation here. We’re not priests, we’re processors," the actor says in a memorable moment as warden at Devil's Island in the 1973 film, "Papillon."

William Smithers, the actor behind Jeremy Wendell in Dallas, has died. He was 98. The longtime character actor, who played the oil baron on the CBS soap until 1989, died on Tuesday, May 26, the Santa Barbara Independent shared in an obituary. Smithers ...