Matt Smith’s Dad David Dead at 73

The Crown’s star, Matt Smith, has said goodbye to his father, David, after he died at the age of 73. The actor was “devastated” to learn the news after his father passed away earlier this month, and described him as “the greatest influence” on his life. “Matt and his family are all devastated. David was a rock to them and will be sorely missed. They all wanted to be together to mourn as they are a real tight-knit family,” a source told The Daily Mail.

The actor who is well-known for his role as Prince Philip on Netflix’s The Crown, is widely known for his role in the series Doctor Who as the eleventh Doctor. He’s also now in the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, and opened up about his father in 2018 and credited him to his “truest moments” in his acting career. “My old man, he’s a legend. He’s the greatest influence on my life, bar none. I often think all of my truest moments as an actor are somehow impersonations of him,” he said.

“Because when I impersonate him, emotionally or even his voice — he’s from Blackburn — as a kid I would impersonate him a lot and if I can be half the dad — it sounds sentimental, but he’s put his family first,” he continued. “My sister, he remortgaged the house to put her through dance school and he never missed anything.” David’s cause of death is unknown as this time. When Smith earned himself the role of the youngest Doctor on Doctor Who at 26-years-old in 2009, he admitted that he feared he wasn’t able to play the role after he started filming. In that moment of doubt, he called his father and he had some words of encouragement for the young actor.

“When I got Doctor Who, I rang him like two months in and I said, “I can’t do this,” and he said, “You can. The hardest thing in life is to adapt and you will adapt and you’ve got to adapt!” And I did; I adapted. He always said it doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you enjoy it.”

Before Smith’s career in acting took off, he was a successful athlete on a the track to go pro. However, after a devastating back injury, that opportunity was quickly brought to a halt. During such a pivotal and challenging time, Smith gives his father a lot of credit for being such a support system throughout that tough time as David encouraged Smith to pursue a new dream.