Ralph Smart

Ralph Foster Smart (27 August 1908 – 12 February 2001) was a film and television producer, director, and writer, born in England to H. C. Smart, an Australian publicist, and his English wife, Hope Daisy Smart, née Foster. Smart found work in Britain with Anthony Asquith and later alongside the film director Michael Powell, whom he assisted with 'quota quickies': low-budget B-pictures to meet a legal commitment to the British film industry under the Cinematograph Films Act 1927.

During the Second World War, Smart joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1942 and served until 1945. Afterward he worked for the Rank Organisation and Ealing Studios, returning to Australia to direct several films beginning with The Overlanders and including Bitter Springs (1950), addressing the mistreatment of young Aborigines.

Back again in Britain, he became an influential figure in ITC television, producing, directing or writing a number of television series and films, including the 1950s series The Adventures of Robin Hood and The Invisible Man. Later he created and produced the highly successful spy series Danger Man (also known as Secret Agent in the United States).

In 2000 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for "services to the development of the Australian film industry".

He retired to Australia, and died on 12 February 2001, in Bowen, Queensland.