New Zealand actor Pete Smith, seen in The Last Survivor or The Lord of the Rings, has died following a long kidney disease. He was 63 years old.
Sad start to the year for the seventh art. After Bob Saget, Jean-Marc Vallée and more recently Gaspard Ulliel, it is another person from the world of cinema who has just disappeared. This Saturday, January 29, New Zealand actor Pete Smith died at the age of 63. It was his son Poumau Papali’i-Smith who announced the sad news at the Stuff website: “He’s been sick for a long time, so his passing has a bittersweet taste.” Indeed, the actor was fighting against a kidney disease for which he had been on dialysis for seven years and also suffered from dementia for two years. “He passed away on Saturday. We’re glad he didn’t have to suffer anymore.”he confides.
Pete Smith began his career in the science fiction film “The Last Survivor” where he portrayed the character of Api. This small role had enabled him to win his first interpretation prize and to make himself known to international directors. It was Jane Campion who trusted him first. In 1993, he joined the cast of “The Piano Lesson” before participating in the famous “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. In this saga directed by Peter Jackson, the actor played an Orc, a legendary creature. In New Zealand, he had also shot in the series “The Market”. It is for this role that he won the Air New Zealand Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2006.
Actor but also director
But the cinema was not Pete Smith’s only passion. The latter loved nature and Maori culture. Passions that he had decided to pass on by making various documentaries on these themes. “He was always in the community filming documentaries with local talent with his gardening show. He was just a man of the people, who always put others before himself”, informs his son. Pete Smith leaves behind six children.