Dumb ass! That one is for Kurtwood Smith, who somehow managed to make the insult sound charming as Red in the FOX primetime TV hit That ‘70s Show. But before the smokey circle hit Red’s Wisconsin basement, the actor was churning out credits on other TV shows, including Soap in 1980, where he made his debut as the guy in the laundromat when he was 37 years old. He hit up Lou Grant, The Renegades, The A-Team, Riptide, The Paper Chase, Newhart, 21 Jump Street and played Mr. Sue in multiple episodes of The New Adventures of Beans Baxter. On the big screen, he made an impression as sinister bad dude Clarence in the sci-fi flick Robocop (1987), and before that (this is a good one), he played a choreographer in Staying Alive(1983), the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. (Awesome, right?) He played Griggs in Rambo III (1988), a mean dad in Dead Poets Society (1989), the Federation president in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), and Dr. Crumble in Girl, Interrupted (1999). Kurtwood nabbed his role as Red in 1998, and played it for 200 episodes, until the series end in 2006. Elsewhere on the little screen, you’ve spied him as Agent James Bennet in The Zeta Project from 2001-2002, and playing Senator Blaine Meyer on day seven of 24 in 2009. You’ve heard him as Bob Johnson in Squirrel Boy from 2006-2007, and as Commissioner Gordon in Beware the Batman from 2013-2014. His credits just keep going and going, and he even reprised his role as Red in That ‘90s Show in 2022. But what you’re really here for is his locker room scene in the movie Cedar Rapids (2011). He’s ass-tastic.
