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Joel Tobeck: "I always called him the largest, nicest man in the world."

Robert Bruce: "He's one of the nicest guys I've ever met, because he didn't have any malice in him."

Geoff Dolan: "He had a really instant effect on people."

Elric Hooper: "I think Kevin embodied generosity. He seemed to be so giving at everything."

Clare Kelso: "It was very easy to think of Kevin as a superstar, but underneath that, there was this human being who was appreciative and kind."

Kevin Smith…Kev….was probably best known as an actor, a very handsome, acclaimed lead actor. But he was also extraordinarily witty and amazingly gifted musically and an all-round entertainer. He'd already achieved incredible success and he was on the verge of another break-a major Hollywood role playing along side Bruce Willis.

But on February 16, 2002, after an accidental fall on a film set, he died.

This is our tribute to Kev, our colleague, our friend.

Kevin Tod Smith was born in Auckland on March 16, 1963, the first child for his parents, Yvonne and Geoff. Two years later, his younger sister, Sandy, was born. Kevin's dark looks came from his Tongan heritage on his mother's side. His dad, Geoff, was in the navy and Kevin spent his first 10 years growing up on Auckland's north shore. The family moved to Sydney briefly, but then in 1974, they moved to Timaru, close to Geoff's family, and it was there that Kevin spent the rest of his childhood.

Michael Woodnorth: "Kev had a really good relationship with his parents, as did his sister, and when we were young, I spent a lot of time at Kev's place because Kev's parents really were cool. They treated you like a human being more than a kid. Kev's father was musical, and when you went 'round to visit the Smiths, Kev's father was as often as not sitting on the couch with a guitar playing Kenny Rogers songs.

Kev went to Timaru Boys High School. It was a traditional school with an emphasis on sports and academic success. But Kev's interests lay more with the arts.

Michael Woodnorth: "Kev mixed in a certain circle, and they were people who were slightly artistic, slightly musical…just a bit different from the norm."

In 1978, Kev met his future wife, Sue. They were both just 15 and their mums engineered their first date.

Kev (during an interview): "Our mums worked together in an old persons' home and they jacked up a um…yeah, they lived around the corner from us you know, so they jacked up a…they made us go to a wedding…'Oh, just go along together'...so, 20 years later, there you are!"

Michael Woodnorth: "I don't want to be cliché about it, but they were childhood sweethearts. They were always together. I mean, they stayed together for the duration."

After leaving school, Kev moved to Christchurch, but he struggled, missing Sue, who'd remained in Timaru.

Michael Woodnorth: "It was a very bad year for Kev. He didn't really talk about anything. It was hard on him and Sue to be apart."

In Christchurch, Kev dabbled at university, worked in a grain store and sang in a band called Say Yes To Apes. Music was his passion and performing, his forte.

Charlie Haskell: "The place that you'd see Kev most often was someone's backyard playing guitar. That's actually so normal in Christchurch. You know, of all my memories of Kev, the one thing that always just sticks there is just how beautifully he sang Elvis. And if you closed your eyes and Kev was singing Elvis, there's no way I could ever tell that it wasn't."

Although acting was to become the central focus of Kev's career, he always found time for music. He sang in theatre, concerts in the park, and in the mid-1990's, he was part of the celebrity band The Wide Lapels. Kev's musical talents were just one aspect of his gifts as a performer. Back in Christchurch in the mid-1980's, the world of television was beckoning ever so slightly.

Michael Woodnorth: "Well, you'd have to say that Crime Watch was Kev's first lead role. What had happened was somebody had robbed a massage parlor and they wanted someone to play this large guy who robbed the massage parlor. So they gave him the job and they took him down to the massage parlor to meet the guy who was actually robbed and, the way the story goes, the guy took one look at Kev and pointed at him and said 'Yeah, that's him! Well done, you've caught him,' not realizing he was actually the actor playing the part."

It was a small beginning, but it led on to other roles.

Kev found it difficult without Sue, lacking focus and direction, but that all changed when Sue and he were reunited in 1984, and at just 21, they were married in their home town of Timaru.

Michael Woodnorth: "They married young, but they'd already been together for ages. It was no surprise when Kev and Sue got married. It was the most natural thing in the world."

It was Sue who steered him to his first theatre role. She saw a casting call for the touring stage show Are You Lonesome Tonight. Knowing Kev's love of Elvis, she encouraged him to try his luck.

Charlie Haskell: "And he got to the audition and the next thing you know, about three auditions later I think he'd traveled around the country doing some more auditions, Kev was the second lead in the Elvis show and it was amazing. It was very inspirational, you know. It was very much like...well you can do it. Kev do everything now."

The production of Are You Lonesome Tonight wasn't a success and the season closed early. But Kevin had caught the acting bug and wanted to be on stage, and he decided to try out for Christchurch's professional theatre, The Court.

Elric Hooper: "Well it was just about lunch time. It was summer. I think it was the end of 1987 and I was crossing the foyer and this very good looking young man came up to me and he said, 'you're the director?' and I said yes and he said, 'I'd like to know whether I can act.' And I took one look at him and I thought, my God, looking like that, one hopes he can, so I never turn anybody away if I think 10 minutes of your life can change somebody else's. So I said to him, 'go away and prepare an audition speech and come back again.' Well, he came back a couple of days later and he did the last scene from Glass Menagerie, that wonderful monologue and so help me, I sat there in tears. I was very moved. I thought, I'm tired, I'm sick…so easily taken in. Anyway, I sent away for somebody else whose judgment I trust and they came along and they were moved as well, and I thought well we've got an actor on our hands. So I made an offer to him straight away and he began The Court Theatre at the beginning of 1988."

Geoff Dolan: "It was really learn fast or go home sort of thing. Elric had a profound effect on both of their lives but he was a very hard taskmaster as well, incredibly knowledgeable, but also incredibly willing to pass that knowledge on."

Mark Hadlow: "There was something about his early days with us in the theatre, with all of us in The Court Theatre, that was so magical in the fact that his energy infected you. It just brought out the most wonderful things in yourself. It was a really extraordinary place to be when Kevin was on fire."

Elric Hooper: "He had a great gift for comedy because comedy, I suppose, is ultimately intellectual, it's brains, and Kevin was sex and body as well, so he had this incredible range and, to me, he was obviously a major talent. I knew ultimately somebody would come along and wisk him away."

Part II

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