Darryl Richard

Who is Darryl Richard?

Darryl Richard, is a former child actor who appeared on television from 1955 until 1966. He is best remembered for the role of Morton "Smitty" Smith, the best friend of the character Jeff Stone, played by Paul Petersen, in twenty episodes of ABC's situation comedy series, The Donna Reed Show.

Richard's first television appearance occurred at the age of eight on January 18, 1955, as Tony in the episode "The Bogey Man" of The U.S. Steel Hour, an acclaimed live-drama series, which then aired on ABC. Richard also appeared in 1955 and 1956 in separate roles in three episodes of CBS's The Phil Silvers Show. On January 1, 1960, Richard appeared as Andy in the episode "Sundance and the Blood Money" on Earl Holliman's CBS western series, Hotel de Paree. That same month, he starred as Steve in the episode "Roy Runs Away" of CBS's The Betty Hutton Show. In the fall of 1960, Richard played the part of Turk in two episodes of CBS's The Ann Sothern Show.

On May 17, 1962, he made his first appearance on The Donna Reed Show in the episode entitled "The Swingin' Set" as Morton "Smitty" Smith, the best friend of Jeff Stone. His last appearance occurred in the series finale on March 19, 1966 in the segment entitled "By-Line--Jeff Stone." That episode also constituted Richard's own final network television appearance. It occurred one day after his twentieth birthday.