The first known movie to use the Smithee pseudonym was Death of a Gunfighter (1969). The name is also an anagram of "The alias men." However, it would be wrong to contribute this as a reason for choosing the name, given that the original choice of Al Smith was already registered with the DGA. During its filming, Richard Widmark was unhappy with director Robert Totten. He arranged to have Totten replaced by Don Siegel. When the film was finished, neither Totten nor Siegel wanted to be credited with the result. At first, it was decided that the credit should go to the fictional "Al Smith", but the DGA reported there had already been an actual director by that name. The film was praised by critics, with The New York Times commenting that the film was "sharply directed by Allen Smithee who has an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail."
The name Smithee was used extensively in television and film; Smithee took the direction credit for episodes of well-known series, including the pilot for the action-adventure series MacGyver. Jud Taylor twice used the pseudonym, for the TV movies Fade-In (also known as Iron Cowboy) (1968) with Burt Reynolds and City in Fear (1980) with David Janssen. Taylor commented on its use when the DGA's Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award was awarded to "Smithee":
"I had a couple of problems in my career having to do with editing and not having the contractually-required number of days in the editing room that my agent couldn't resolve. So, I went to the Guild and said, 'This is what's going on.' The Guild went to bat for me. I got Alan Smithee on them both. It was a signal to the industry from a creative rights point of view that the shows had been tampered with."
Smithee has also been credited with works in other genres, such as the music video for Whitney Houston's cover song "I Will Always Love You" from the soundtrack for The Bodyguard. The Destiny's Child music video for "Lose My Breath" is also attributed to Smithee, as are the guitar credits on the 2005 William Hung CD, Miracle: Happy Summer from William Hung.
Although the pseudonym was intended for use by directors, the 1981 film Student Bodies credited Allen Smithee as producer in place of the actual producer, Michael Ritchie. The film's director, Mickey Rose, was credited by his own name rather than a pseudonym.
Outside films, several 1995 comics involving the superhero Daredevil were attributed to the writing of Alan Smithee. Writer DG Chichester took a five-issue break from the series after issue #332, and used this lead time to work on the issues that would print upon his return. A new editor took over the Daredevil line, and did not want Chichester to continue work on the series. Chichester himself was not informed of this directly, but caught wind of the edict nonetheless. Chichester was still obligated to complete issues #338–342; in protest, he insisted on being credited Alan Smithee. His name would not appear in a Daredevil book until #380, the last issue of the first volume of the series.
In 1996, writer Peter Hogan was dropped from the 2000AD comic strip Strontium Dogs, and his episodes subjected to extensive rewrites. Hogan insisted his name be removed from the credits. The script was duly credited to Alan Smithee.
Also, the cartoon series Tiny Toon Adventures, which often had inconsistent artwork and dialogue that had been rewritten at the last minute, had several episodes that were credited to "Al Smithee."
In 1997, the comedy An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, starring Eric Idle, was released, in which a director wants to disown a film but cannot because his real name is Alan Smithee. As a result of the publicity around this movie, and especially around the fact that director Arthur Hiller asked for and got an Alan Smithee credit for it, the Directors Guild discontinued the Alan Smithee credit.
Another affair that may have played a role in the discontinuation of the pseudonym had to do with the release of American History X, where director Tony Kaye asked for a Smithee, but did not receive it. One of the stated rules for the process was that the director was not allowed to comment publicly about why he or she was taking his or her name off the film; Kaye had already spoken publicly about his issues with the re-edit and, thus, was ineligible.
After these issues, the Guild decided to choose a pseudonym for each case separately, rather than re-use a particular pseudonym. The first such example is the "Thomas Lee" credit for director Walter Hill on the 2000 film Supernova.
The change has not ended the practice of using the Smithee pseudonym entirely. For example, the Canadian film Fugitives Run starring David Hasselhoff is credited to Smithee, as are the 2003 films Cowboys Run and River Made to Drown In. As the DGA has no control whatsoever over films produced and directed outside the United States, the practice may continue in Canada and in other countries.
The following films credit Smithee; the actual director is listed when known:
