Forrie Smith fell off a horse in front of his mom and step dad when he was 6 and proclaimed that he was going to be a stunt man. 54 years later, he’s doing just that. Forrie plays Lloyd Pearce on Paramount Network’s hit series Yellowstone and recently completed shooting the third season of the show. He has been involved in Yellowstone since season one. “I was a guest star and now I’m on contract. I’m the cow boss. We started shooting season three the first week of August, and just finished up. It takes 8 days to do an episode.”
Rodeo paved the path from bronc rider to stunt man. Born in Helena, Montana, and raised on his grandpa and grandma’s ranch southwest of there, he spent his early years going down the rodeo road with his parents. “I went to grade school at Montana City – there were 13 kids in 8 grades.” He started competing in rodeo when he was 8. “I was on my second pair of chaps already – I wore one out riding at home.” His grandma (Josephine Palmer) didn’t want him riding bucking stock, so he was raised in the timed events. “My granddad rodeoed when they circled the cars and snubbed the horses,” recalls Forrie. “I was drawn to it. I’m known as a horseman. I’ve started a lot of warm bloods for the equestrian people.” He always knew his call was riding bucking stock. He started riding bareback horses when he was 11. “I would get on turnout horses and people like Pat Linger and Steve Loney would help me out.”
He was still spurring bucking horses in 2009, taking after his dad. “I was raised in the back seat of a station wagon. My dad was winning checks until he was 52 in the RCA.” His mom, Chick, was a barrel racer and when she had troubles with her horse she would time and secretary. “I started working the labor list when I was eight under guys like Sonny Linger, Reg Kesler, and the Big Bend Rodeo Company.” Through the years, he did anything necessary at a rodeo including flanking, loading, and riding. “I’ve been on 17 horses in one day and 11 head of bulls in one day. Everything good in my life was because of rodeo.”
He is quick to say that it was rodeo that got him into the film business. “I use a lot of the things I learned from rodeo in the film industry – like breaking things down into steps, thinking positive and not being negative. Thinking about what you did wrong and forgetting it; thinking about what you did right and building on it. Hurry up and wait – that’s all learned from rodeo.” He relates his acting to riding a bucking horse. “You read that dialog and figure out the scene and why you’re saying what you’re saying. If you look at the script and say ‘I got this’ – that positive attitude will work out for you and the energy will carry you – same as riding a bucking horse. If you say you’re not going to ride it, you probably won’t.”
Forrie has been a stunt man for 25 years. His first part was in Desparado. “I had started in the movie business a year before as a wrangler, my first movie was that remake of Stagecoach with Willie Nelson. Then they needed a guy that could rope a guy off a roof. I was the only one that showed up with a rope long enough to reach him. Then I had to get the dialog … my name was Harley.” He had only been in the film business for a week when he went to sign up for the teamsters union. “I had to have references and they were all old rodeo partners. The guy looked at me and said ‘who are you, you come with some of the best and highest recommendations I’ve ever seen’ – that was 1986 – almost to the day I got my screen actors guild card.”
With his look and voice, he was encouraged to take acting lessons. “I just wanted to do stunts .. but I went to Lawrence Parks for acting lessons and learned how to break down a character and a script. That was 25 years ago and I’ve been in it ever since.” Everybody that was in the stunt business back then had some kind of rodeo background. The hardest stunt he’s had to do are horse falls. “There’s a lot of components that go into that – you’ve got to hit your mark, set your horse up and follow through with it. Doing high falls isn’t as bad – it’s just that first step that’s hard. And I didn’t really like the fire gigs – you usually lose all your eyebrows.”
Forrie was raised in Helena, Montana, and moved to Arizona 30 years ago, and now calling San Acacia, New Mexico, home. “I fed cows with a team and sleigh when it was 50 below and it was 106 in August when I was setting posts,” he recalls of his days in Montana. “I drove my cousin back to Texas – 20 years ago – right after Urban Cowboy came out and cowboys were in.” He started doing day work and rodeoing, competing in open rodeos and he filled his permit in 1982 and started competing in pro rodeos. “That was easy back then, there were 100 rodeos in Texas.” He was part of the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association, joining in 2006, when he was 47. He competed for three years there, never winning the world, but winning his circuit twice and taking the average at the Finals. “I was raised to make money – if I didn’t make money rodeoing, I didn’t do it.” He spent his off time wrangling or hauling horses before getting his gig with Yellowstone. He still does wrangling jobs, the latest one for an upcoming Tom Hanks movie.
At 60, Forrie has no plans to slow down. “Thank God to the movie business I’ll have a decent retirement through the teamsters guild. As long as I can stick my feet in the stirrup, I’ll always do day work and I’ll still do movies.” Any chance he gets, he goes home. “I like sleeping in my own bed, petting my own dogs, and saddling my own horses. It’s getting better around home about going out and having a meal and not getting interrupted. I’m not complainin’ – it’s so cool – the excitement and joy you bring people with just a hug and a picture. Without them, I wouldn’t have a show. It’s kind of wild.” Season three of Yellowstone comes out in summer 2020. “I’m a very blessed man – I thank God and my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that I’m still on the ride. It ain’t over yet.”
