The Commandant

Robin Beauclerk Smith (February 28, 1955) is a South African actor whose professional career began in theater whilst still in high school in 1970. He attended the University of Cape Town Drama School after school and worked at The Space Theater in Cape Town doing Socio Political shows during apartheid. He moved to Johannesburg in 1979 to continue his career in theater, and to get into television, which was based there. He broke into movies during the heyday of the B grade action movies in the 1980s, and was for a short time in 1997, a wrestling manager for the then WWF now WWE. He was known in the World Wrestling Federation as The Commandant, who managed the South African Truth Commission for 9 months in 1997. Born in South Africa, he is a film and stage actor, as well as a voice artist. He appeared in many South African and international movies throughout the 1980s and 1990s and is still working as an actor, voice artist and director, based in Cape Town South Africa. Career Professional wrestling Smith became a professional wrestling manager in early 1997. Bret Hart visited South Africa and met Smith. Hart recommended him for a role as a manager in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), however he never fought as a wrestler. Smith made his wrestling debut in Tennessee in the United States Wrestling Association (USWA). He managed under the name Commandant, and managed a stable of paramilitary wrestlers including "Interrogator", "Tank" and "Recon" as the "Truth Commission"; a take on the similarly named Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa.