Born in Waupun, Wisconsin, Smith attended Penn State, after which he moved to New York City and began to form friendships that blossomed into working relationships with such talents as Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Carson McCullers, and Agnes de Mille.
In his early 20s, he lived at February House in Brooklyn with a coterie of famous people centered on George Davis and W. H. Auden.
Smith designed dozens of Broadway musicals, films (Guys and Dolls, The Band Wagon, Oklahoma!, Porgy and Bess), and operas (La Traviata).
He did the scenic design for the 1949 Broadway revue, Along Fifth Avenue, starring Nancy Walker and Jackie Gleason, which ran for 180 performances.
He designed the sets for ABT's complete 1967 production of Swan Lake, the first full-length version mounted by an American company.