DETROIT — He's best remembered as the target of the caustic Michael Moore film "Roger & Me," but to those who knew him, Roger B. Smith was a leader who helped prepare General Motors Corp. for the fierce global competition it now faces.

Smith, GM's chairman and chief executive from Jan. 1, 1981, to July 31, 1990, died Thursday in the Detroit area at age 82 after a brief but unspecified illness.

His tenure as chairman began as Japanese automakers were gaining momentum in the United States, and he responded by creating the Saturn small-car brand and with GM's first front-wheel-drive midsize cars. He also formed a controversial joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp. to build cars in California, and acquired Electronic Data Systems and Hughes Aircraft Corp.

"Roger was truly a pioneer in the fast-moving global industry that we now take for granted," current GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner said in a statement. "He was a leader who knew that we have to accept change, understand change, and learn to make it work for us."

Most people, though, remember Smith from the 1989 documentary by Michael Moore, which explored how GM's plant closings and layoffs had affected his hometown of Flint.

The film chronicles Moore's fruitless attempts to interview Smith about the devastation in Flint, although magazine articles and documentaries have alleged that Smith granted interviews to Moore before the film's release.

Moore has acknowledged a five-minute exchange with Smith about a company tax abatement during the public comment portion of a 1987 shareholders' meeting, but said that was before he started working on the movie.

Smith often faced questions about the documentary, which contained interviews of people who said they lost their homes after GM plant closures.

One woman said she had to start killing rabbits for food after GM shut down the plants, eliminating 30,000 jobs in the city of 150,000.

"I haven't seen it," Smith said shortly after the film was released. "I'm not much for sick humor, and I don't like things that take advantage of poor people."

Robert Stempel, who succeeded Smith as GM chairman and CEO, said Smith never was bothered by the movie.

"Those things, when you're a CEO, you learn to roll with the punches," Stempel said yesterday. "You can't let yourself get bruised by that sort of thing. You have to rise above it, and he certainly did."

But Gerald Meyers, a former chairman of American Motors Corp. who knew Smith, said Smith thought "Roger & Me" was a smear job.

"I don't think he ever got over it," Meyers said.

Stempel, who served as president under Smith, said Smith foresaw Japanese imports rising in the U.S. and fuel efficiency becoming a major issue. He set up Saturn and led the shift of many GM cars from rear-wheel-drive to more efficient front-wheel-drive vehicles.

"He wanted to try to stem the tide if he could," Stempel said of the Japanese. "He put a lot of effort into some small-car activities and other things and certainly promoted the widespread use of front wheel drive in GM."

Despite the efforts, GM's U.S. market share dropped from around 45 percent when Smith took GM's top job to just over 36 percent when he left. The company's market share currently is about 24 percent.

Meyers said Saturn never reached expectations, failing to attract buyers of Toyota Camrys and Honda Accords.

During his tenure, Smith led GM to grow its global business, and he had to deal with tough U.S. environmental and safety standards, the company said.