Beloved actor Charles C. Stevenson Jr., who appeared in many different roles throughout his career, passed away at the age of 95, Variety reports.
He died on Jan. 19 of natural causes in Camarillo, California, his son, Scott, told the outlet.
“In his own words, his job was ‘marrying or burying people,’” the statement said. “As he told it, the panic-stricken director would invariably come to him to beg him to find a way to fill in unscripted space between ‘We are gathered here together’ (where he’d probably get his close-up) and the ‘amen’ at the end of the scene (where he usually wouldn’t). Stevenson admitted that he got pretty good at that.” Over the years, he also had roles in projects including “Murder, She Wrote,” “Men in Black,” “Glee,” “Bunheads” and more.
Stevenson is survived by his five children, eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
Tributes Pour In For Charles C. Stevenson Jr.
“One of those characters you didn’t realize you loved until he was gone. Smitty always felt like home. RIP,” one fan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“RIP dear Smitty,” another fan commented.
“Awww Smitty! What’s it all about, Smitty? RIP #willandgrace,” a fan wrote.
“Oh, Smitty…, what’s it all about??,” someone stated, including a martini glass emoji at the end.
“Ah Smitty, we did have fun,” one person said.
Charles C. Stevenson Jr.’s Roles Over The Years
Stevenson made his onscreen debut in a 1982 on an episode of NBC’s Voyagers, but from there, he went on to appear in numerous other hit shows including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Dynasty, LA Law, Cheers, Knots Landing, Designing Women, Matlock, Murder She Wrote, Sister Sister, Family Matters, Melrose Place, Boy Meets World, ER, Charmed, Scrubs, Gilmore Girls, House, Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Along with this, he was most known for playing the role of Smitty throughout numerous episodes of “Will & Grace” from 2002 to 2020, with his final appearance occurring during the show’s final season when he was 89 years old.
He also had roles in movies such as The Naked Gun (1988), Ed Wood (1994), Men in Black (1997), Pleasantville (1998), Ghost World (2001).
In 2008, he starred in the Disney movie “Snow Buddies,” playing Sheriff Ryan.
However, before he got into acting, Stevenson served in the Navy during the Korean War. He then went on to earn an English degree from UC Berkeley. He moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s, working on community events with Hollywood stars including James Stewart, Jack Lemmon and Henry Winkler.
My condolences to his family. I remember Mr. Stevenson in many of his guest appearances, R.I,P, Smitty.