The Biography

Ray Smith (1 May 1936 – 15 December 1991) was a Welsh actor who played the tough-talking police chief, Detective Superintendent Gordon Spikings, in the television series Dempsey and Makepeace. He was the first actor to play Brother Cadfael for BBC radio, and played a memorable Dai Bando in the BBC's 1975 adaptation of How Green Was My Valley - a touching performance given that Smith;s own father was a miner killed in a pit accident when Smith was just three years old. His final role work was in the TV adaptation of Kingsley Amis' novel, The Old Devils. He died just before filming concluded at the age of 55 from a massive heart attack and won the posthumous BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actor in 1992.