Martha Smith on AllMovie

Martha Smith is a model turned actress who has gone from being a Playboy centerfold to a talented comedic performer, as well as a writer and producer. Raised in Farmington, MI, Smith began modeling when she was 15, and graduated from doing auto shows to the big time in her late teens, during the early '70s, culminating with her appearance as Playboy's Playmate of the Month in July 1973. She moved to Los Angeles in the mid-'70s and landed a small role in the film The Winds of Autumn (1976), featuring Dub Taylor and Jeanette Nolan. She was signed to Universal and did a lot of television work over the next several years, playing lots of girlfriends of mobsters and a succession of murder victims, including an extended appearance in an episode of Quincy, M.E. in which she portrayed a corpse. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) gave Smith her first important screen role as Babs Jensen -- Smith's vixenish coed ends up partly stripped in public during the comic denouement of the film, and, according to the movie, headed for a career as a tour guide at Universal Studios. In 1982, she won the role of Sandy Horton on Days of Our Lives, a part she portrayed for six months. Scarecrow & Mrs. King followed in 1983 -- Smith got the part of Francine Desmond, which made the most interesting use of her abilities of any project to date. Playing against her good looks and glamorous image, her character was the butt of many of the jokes and situations in the series for most of its four-year run, until the final season in which she was given the chance to play more straight action and suspense. Following the series' cancellation, Smith embarked on a singing career in tandem with Allman Brothers/Tubes alumnus Keith England, whom she later married. In addition to her acting, Smith has co-authored nonfiction books and produced made-for-television films.