Mildred Joanne Smith, best known for her portrayal as Sidney Poitier’s wife in his film debut, the 1950 drama No Way Out, has died. She was 94.
Smith starred in both Broadway and film productions, including Men to the Seas, Mamba’s Daughters, Beggar’s Holiday, No Way Out, and Cockles and Champagne, created for the stage in London. Her career came to an abrupt halt only two years after starring alongside Poitier, when she was severely injured in a plane crash that killed 25 out of 59 people aboard.
After her brief stint in Hollywood, Smith became a magazine editor for Our World magazine, a black lifestyle publication, and a popular English teacher at a junior high school in the White Plains School System. According to her family, she passed away on July 19. Smith was married to David A. Hepburn, a journalist and vice president for WNEW-TV in New York. He died in 1985.
Smith is survived by her daughter, Vanessa Nina Hepburn; a son, David Blake Hepburn; a stepdaughter, Valerie J. Hepburn, MD and six grandchildren, Brandon, Chelsea, Cole, Kaleo, Sage and Koa. Our condolences go out to her family.
