Paul Smith (born February 5, 1929) is an American comic character actor with a perpetually perplexed or, alternatively, bemused expression, who, during the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s, appeared in scores of television episodes, primarily sitcoms, including regular roles in five series, and was also seen in numerous theatrical features, television films and commercials, frequently in brief, sometimes unbilled, comedic bits.
Born in Pennsylvania's second-largest city, Pittsburgh, Arthur Paul Smith moved to Los Angeles and, by the time of his 22nd birthday in 1951, began an uninterrupted 25-year acting career which lasted until his retirement, at age 47, in 1976. During the 1950s, he was seen in twenty-four theatrical features, from 1951's I Want You to 1959's The FBI Story, with his work in eleven of those being unbilled and the remainder providing him with mostly small parts which were credited near the bottom of the cast list. One exception, in 1957, was a sixth-billed role in Elvis Presley's first starring vehicle, Loving You in which he plays Skeeter, a comical member of Elvis' backup band, who talks to his friend Matilda, the band's caged parrot.