Born in Wisconsin and raised in California, the actor honed his craft for many years on stage as a member of the California Actors Theatre. In 1981, he received three DRAMA-LOGUE awards for his performances in "Billy Budd", "The Idiot's Delight" and "Green Grow the Lilacs". Despite his inroads in film and TV, Smith has continued to appear in theatrical productions, including as a doctor treating AIDS patients in the 1996 production of "A Quiet End".
Smith first appeared in features in the small role of a security guard in "Roadie" (1980). In 1983, he was cast against what would become his type, playing a choreographer putting John Travolta through his moves in "Staying Alive". Balding, with a steel gaze, Smith has carved a career playing parents, officious professionals or military types. He was the father in "Homesick" (1988), which dealt with a child longing for his grandfather who was confined to a nursing home. Other notable roles have included the district attorney sparring with James Woods in "True Believer" (1989), the Federation President in "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (1991) and Nicole Kidman's white bread father in "To Die For" (1995). More recently, he and Mary Kay Place were a Christian Right couple who open their home to an unwed pregnant woman addicted to inhalants (Laura Dern) in Alexander Payne's "Citizen Ruth" (1996).
On the small screen, Smith appeared in the TV-movie "Murder in Texas" (NBC, 1981) and played Col. Berdan in "North & South: Book II" (ABC, 1986) in his first miniseries. He also portrayed Josef Goebbels in "The Nightmare Years" (TNT, 1989). Smith has also been a regular on several failed TV series: as Captain Joseph Scanlon, who doesn't believe a bunch of gangbangers can become undercover cops in "Renegades" (ABC, 1983); the villainous Dr. Sue in "The New Adventures of Beans Baxter" (Fox, 1987-88); and a freeloader named Jack Lord at a Hawaiian surf shop in "Big Wave Dave's" (CBS, 1993). He finally found steady employment when he landed the role of 'Red' Forman, the father of the central teenager, on the popular Fox sitcom "That '70s Show" (1998- ).