Daniel Blake Smith is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker and writer, with a wide range of notable works to his credit. He wrote and produced the feature film Texas Heart, a crime thriller starring John Savage and Lin Shaye, which is now available on Amazon and other digital platforms. The film is one of several feature scripts in development, including Blood Born, a thriller, and War Wounds, a true story about a war correspondent who survived a Taliban-fired RPG attack in Afghanistan.
Smith has also written and produced several feature narrative films and documentaries, including the Emmy-nominated February One: The Story of the Greensboro Four, which was broadcast on PBS's "Independent Lens". He also wrote the acclaimed feature documentary Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy, hosted by Wes Studi and narrated by James Earl Jones. Other notable documentaries include Black Indians: An American Story, narrated by James Earl Jones, and Terror of the Soul: Edgar Allan Poe, starring Treat Williams and John Heard, with music by Philip Glass.
In addition to his work in film, Smith has written and produced several feature documentaries, including Envisioning Home, about two visionaries in the public housing world of St. Louis, and Impact: After the Crash, a feature doc about the deadliest drunk-driving related crash in US history. Both films premiered at the St. Louis Int'l Film Festival and are now available on Amazon.
Smith holds a Ph.D in American History from the University of Virginia and taught at the University of Kentucky. He is also the author of four books in American history, including the prize-winning An American Betrayal: Cherokee Patriots and the Trail of Tears, The Shipwreck That Saved Jamestown, Our Family Dreams: The Fletchers' Adventures in 19th Century America, and Mr. Wonderful, a novel. A native Texan, Smith now lives in St. Louis, Mo.
