- published: 10 Jan 2014
- views: 57464
Ralph Smart was a film and television producer, director, and writer, born in England to Australian parents in 1908. He found work in Britain with Anthony Asquith and later alongside the film director Michael Powell, whom he assisted with "Quota quickies": low-budget B-pictures to fill production quotas.
During the Second World War he joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942 and served until 1945. Afterwards he worked for the Rank Organisation and Ealing Studios, returning to Australia to direct several films including Bitter Springs (1950), addressing the mistreatment of young Aborigines.
Back again in Britain, he became an influential figure in television, remembered as the creator and producer of Danger Man, also known as Secret Agent. He produced, directed or wrote a number of television series and films, including the 1950s series The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Invisible Man.
He retired to Australia, and died 12 February 2001, in his nineties, in Bowen, Queensland.