Packy Smith

Born: 28 September 1941 (Tennessee) Died: 17 December 2019 (Nashville, TN) Writer, publisher, producer, and renowned collector of Western movies and artifacts. He grew up in the Nashville suburb of Inglewood. He attended Montgomery Bell Academy and Western Kentucky University, where he received a BA and Master's degree in library science. An early interest led to a lifelong career collecting, selling, and analyzing Western movies and music. He authored numerous scholarly articles; wrote, co-wrote, produced, and edited books including Hopalong Cassidy and 30 Years on the Road with Gene Autry; and launched Riverwood Press, publishing the work of others in the field. Packy co-founded the Western Film Festival and more recently the Lone Pine Film Festival, where he was instrumental in obtaining guests and procuring rare movies shown at events over the last three decades. He served on the board of directors of the Museum of Western Film History, also in Lone Pine, and co-produced a season of the Roy Rogers "Happy Trails Theatre" television show for the Nashville Network