The death of actor Pete Smith to diabetes at the age of just 63 has been described as a great loss for the Māori creative world.
Smith, from Te Rarawa and Te Aupouri, made his debut as a screen lead in 1985 in the sci-fi film The Quiet Earth, after joining a drama course led by his mentor Don Selwyn.
Other screen credits include a detective in Plaincothers, a gang leader in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted and presenting the garden show Once Were Gardiners from his far north base.
He also started a production company Puriri Productions with his partner Mona Papali’i.
Friend Ella Henry says she first met Smith at Auckland University in 1990 and was struck by his range as an actor.
“For 40 years Pete has been a name in the film, theatre, television production and one of the very early groundbreakers for so many who have come after him so I think it’s a tragedy so many of those films are not easily available for younger Māori actors and filmmakers to be able to enjoy that body of work because it is a very impressive body of work and I think it’s a great shame that we’ve lost him so young,” she says.
Ella Henry says she regrets Covid restriction will prevent many people from getting to Pete Smith’s tangi in Ahipara.
Nō reira, ki a koe e te kaiwhakaari rangatira, moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā.
