Biography

Jay R. Smith was the second freckled-faced youngster to be featured in producer Hal Roach's successful film series, "Our Gang" (later known on television as "The Little Rascals".) His first "Our Gang" film was _Boys Will be Joys(1925)_ in a small role. Smith was put into the series as a sort-of replacement for Mickey Daniels, the original freckle-faced kid in the gang; Daniels was outgrowing his youthful role. While never a "star" in the Gang, Smith continued in the series for the next four years. He made his last Gang appearance in the early talkie _Moan & Groan, Inc.(1929)_ as a boy who gets a police officer trapped in Japanese handcuff toy. As an adult, Smith got into the retail paint business and attended movie conventions, offering his signature. On October 5, 2002, Smith's body was found 25 miles north of Las Vegas, Nevada, having died from multiple stab wounds. Charles "Wayne" Crombie, a homeless man who Smith had reportedly befriended, was later convicted of the murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison.