Burly, bearded and imposing, he appeared in feature films and occasionally on television since the 1960s, generally playing "heavies" and bad guys.

His most notable roles include Hamidou, the vicious prison guard in Midnight Express (1978), Bluto in Robert Altman's Popeye (1980), Gideon in the ABC miniseries Masada (1981), Glossu "Beast" Rabban in David Lynch's Dune (1984) and Falkon in Red Sonja (1985).

In 1967, Smith returned to Israel as a Mahal volunteer in the Six-Day War and remained for six years, appearing in locally filmed features and television productions.

[5] Smith made appearances in such films as 21 Hours at Munich (1976), Midnight Express (1978), as Bluto in Popeye (1980), and as Glossu Rabban in Dune (1984).

On television, he appeared in such established series as Emergency!, CHiPS, Wonder Woman, Barney Miller and Hawaii Five-O.