Dr. Zachary Smith on Lost in Space

Dr. Zachary Smith represents trump in a former life, and Major West represents the overwhelmingly majority of the world.

Oh, the pain, the pain, reading this my Dear William.

I love lost in Space especially the first season where they tried to make it like a real Sci-Fi before they dumbed it down into a joke and paper mache aliens.

They don't get a lot of credit for this but there is an episode where the ship's computer gets a virus. It was the first time that concept had ever been put out there in the public and actually before a computer virus ever existed. People laughed at the idea at the time.

My today's standards, A 40 something Dr. Smith palling around with a young boy would be considered a big Pedo. How times have changed.

This dude built the interior of the Jupiter 2 inside his house!

You should buy your own working robot replica OP.

R6 that's so fun. I recently read an article about retirement villages that are built around the themes of old TV shows. People want to live in the Lost in Space world 24/7. Not my cup of tea but more power to them.

Where is that R8? I can only imagine a bunch of seniors from the DL roaming around aimlessly on a village that looked like the Golden Girls.

I'd be hard put to say who's a greater DL icon, Dr. Smith or Judy.

R8

What choice did they have? Leave him out in space or some distant planet to die?

Remember Dr. Zachary Smith was a spy, foreign agent or whatever who was on board to sabotage the mission. He wasn't able to get off the ship before launch and the rest is history.

Major Don West probably would have loved nothing better than to deck Dr. Smith, tie him up on some planet and leave him to rot; but the women and children likely never would have stood for that, in particular young Will Robinson who grew attached to Dr. Smith.

Tidbit:

Jonathan Harris who played Dr. Smith was not British as some believe given his diction. Rather he was of Russian-Jewish extraction from Bronx, New York. Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin (birth name) detested his Bronx/Jewish accent so worked very hard to get rid of it by cultivating a sort of received pronunciation . As Mame would say "He isn't British he's from the Bronx... when one is from the Bronx one has to do something....."

Also contrary to popular belief at least on paper the fussy Jonathan Harris was straight, married for > 50 years with one son.

Even if the actor was straight, his character seemed pretty gay. Remember the green alien woman that stalked him all over the place including the outside of the ship while in space?

Her line was even "handsome, pretty, handsome Dr. Smith".

Jonathan Harris was given free rein to write all of Dr. Smith's lines.

R12 I was just thinking about the episode, when the alien is talking to Will and asking if he loves Smith. The entire scene was like watching a guy talk about his boyfriend, it was silly but surprising.

[quote] Dr. Zachary Smith represents trump in a former life, and Major West represents the overwhelmingly majority of the world.

Can’t be. If he were Trump, he’d convince somewhat less than half of the others that his schemes were the BEST IDEAS EVER, and even though they were less than half, they’d get to decide to implement his schemes.

[quote] Also contrary to popular belief at least on paper the fussy Jonathan Harris was straight, married for > 50 years with one son.

Just like relentlessly heterosexual actor Cary Grant.

Dr. Smith was even an entertainer!

Great photo - the cast of Lost In Space.

[quote]The actor pushes everyone's limits, but somehow manages to get people each and every time to give him another chance.

As much crap as people gave the "Lost in Space" reboot on Netflix for casting a woman (Parker Posey) as Dr. Smith. They did nail the creation of a character with this description.

R8, what did it for me was Guy Williams.

He's up there with Lucas McCain in terms of TV dads. Loving, caring, stern when he need to be, but always fair.

I'm sure he would have wanted a son that took more after him -- tall, strong, dark...his son Will definitely favored his mother more; the hair, more cerebral, kind.

John Robinson (strong name) was a dad who made his kids feel safe.

R12

Idea of Dr. Smith being this fussy gayish sort of man likely fit with idea that no healthy red blooded American guy would be an Eastern European agent sabotaging a crucial space mission.

By making Dr. Smith a type of caricature also lessened to an extent the evil nature of what he was up to from start to about end of show.

IIRC there was an episode where the ship stood a good chance of making it back to earth or something. Dr. Smith realizes what would happen to him when turned over to the authorities and (again) sabotages the ship by messing with a part or something.

Innocent as usual...…..

I lived on a dorm floor with a Zachary Smith. He was tall and had this washboard like you wouldn’t imagine. Straight and sounded dumb as bricks when he spoke, but still that midsection was a worth a side eyed stare now and again.

As a child, I didn't understand why the crew didn't just kill Dr. Smith.

Harris has a bit of a Martin Freeman vibe in these pics.

Dad was also gay off screen apparently R20. So double yes to a dad like that!

Loved Lost in Space. The Smith character was my favorite because he was always scheming to get what he wanted.

[quote]Jonathan Harris was given free rein to write all of Dr. Smith's lines

Which is what ruined the series. Turned into Sesame Street with Broccoli people. The first season was much more dark and serious (for the time) which I liked. It probably would have ran 9 seasons that way had Irwin Allen not been such a scatterbrain wako producer changing everything from the script to the music every seasons. The reboot of the series at least held true to that character with Parker Posie.

R11, the actor said once that in the original script Dr. Smith was working for the Soviet Union but changed it and made it more vague because they knew they’d have to kill his character off early on,

R24 is posting from North Korea.

I love the reboot especially the way they redid the female characters. They kick ass. Parker Posey is brilliant as Dr. Smith.

Guy Williams, the father, did an early screen test, before he was hired. Lots of George Clooney vibe going on before George was probably born.

Rumors that he was gay all through his career but he never came out. He was married with kids which you had to do back then. Shortly after Lost in Space he moved to Argentina and spent the rest of his life.

Billy Mumy said Jonathan Harris was very nice to him and would have him to his home to dinner with his wife. Mumy said the show focused too much on him and Harris by the third season, but he enjoyed it and it was his favorite acting role.

I lived the reboot on Netflix as well. Parker Posey really did kick ass as Dr. Smith. Only thing I didn't like is that the 2nd season became all about the robot. Every freaking episode. And some of those other actors were really good especially the adopted daughter. I hear there is only going to be one more season then canceled. I am telling you though, if they would just keep that damn robot in the background for a change and stop obsessing with robot special effect, probably pick up a lot more viewers. It feels like they hooked up with some effects house that's pushing character driven effects instead of more grand themes or interesting use of them. We really don't need Transformers in space. It's been done and tired. Get back to the first season with focus on the main characters.

Guy Williams retired to Argentina and apparently lived well for many years having become wealthy from investments. No mention of him being gay though.

Yes, R35, he was closeted and didn't die of AIDS like Rock Hudson. Wikipedia is not going to tell you that unless you can prove it.

Harris was camper than a row of Boy Scout puptents.

He was way too much in the later episodes.

There is this one episode from season 1, the best season, where Dr. Smith did what I called the Dr. Smith trifecta. Some hairy bearish humanoid sneaked up behind her and Zacharina screamed, clutched pearls, and fainted. I holler every time I see that scene. I also sensed some sexual tension between Major Don West and Dr. Smith. I always imagine Don sneaking up on Dr. Smith sometime away from the rest of the crew and giving Smith a good hard fuck behind one of those alien rocks.

When I was a kid after school I would watch Lost In Space and The Avengers reruns. Both were very entertaining. From what I recall reading, Lost In Space became more campier after season one to compete with shows like Batman.

Don West didn't have to go to Smith for his sexual needs. He had Judy and John Robinson on tap. (You don't think matronly Maureen was satisfying John, do you? Why do you think John and Don were always at the mining site? They were drilling all right.)

[quote]They don't get a lot of credit for this but there is an episode where the ship's computer gets a virus.

Which episode was that, R4? I don't recall anything like that. There's instances of it in [italic]Star Trek[/italic], including - TOS, S01E19, 'Tomorrow is Yesterday,' where the computer developed an error in which it kept calling Kirk, "Dear"; - TOS, S02E14, 'Wolf in the Fold,' in which the ship's computer became possessed by a hostile, non-corporeal alien entity; as well as other instances from both the animated series and The Next Generation.

Are you sure you weren't thinking about 'Trek'?

R39 Major Don West.

Autographed photo no less.

Mad Magazine did a parody, of course.

[quote]Which is what ruined the series.

Partly, R28, but there was also the fact that the series was competing with 'Batman,' which had a high camp sensibility, and was also being shot at Fox Studios. That, and Irwin Allen's infamous cheap-assedness, re-using effects shots, using substandard props (think the dragon Gundemar's costume from 'The Questing Beast' as an egregious example), and unoriginal storylines (like the aforementioned 'Questing Beast,' whose plot seems to have been borrowed from Walt Disney's 'The Reluctant Dragon' (1941)). Jonathan Harris should not have been permitted to alter all of the scripts to suit himself, to the detriment of the roles of other actors and of the series itself, but Harris was not responsible for introducing scripts like 'The Space Croppers,' 'West of Mars,' 'Mutiny in Space,' and 'Castles in Space.' ('Haunted Lighthouse' is particularly awful, with guests Woodrow Parfrey and elfen Lou Wagner, probably the gayest thing ever to grace the series beside Dr Smith himself. What blows me away about this episode is that it was straight-faced written with the intent of becoming a spin-off series, featuring these two off-putting and un-entertaining characters. Studio heads must have lost their goddamned minds.)

Not reigning in Jonathan Harris, though, seems to have developed into the terminal cancer which finally sank the series. Harris was used to getting his way, and Irwin Allen always let him, so that he'd become quite the prima donna, throwing tantrums over things he didn't like. It seems to have finally come to a head with the infamous third season episode 'The Great Vegetable Rebellion,' although not for the reason everyone assumes, i.e. the over-the-top stupidity of Stanley Adams in a carrot suit. Perhaps influenced by 'Doctor Doolittle (1967), screenwriters wanted to introduce a talking, purple llama to the episode, to ostensibly become a permanent addition to the cast. It's said that when the llama was introduced to the set, it supposedly "attacked" Harris, who then stalked off and held up production by refusing to return to work until the llama was removed. Somehow the llama was replaced by yet another mincing character actor, James Millholland, who appears as 'Willoughby the Llama' in the credits (said credits perhaps having been submitted to the titlers without completely expunging the llama from the script). Control of the set was not fully restored, though, because Guy Williams, June Lockhart, and Mark Goddard, whose characters had all become second-fiddle to the trio of Smith, Will, and the Robot, kept causing re-takes by laughing during the shots. Allen was furious, and reduced the actors' participation in the remaining Season Three episodes.

Someone at the studio had evidently banked heavily on the inclusion of the llama character in the series, because the sole surviving example of a fourth season script, "Malice in Wonderspace," features "Willoughby the Llama" prominently. Harris' refusal to go along with it may have led Irwin Allen to just throw in the towel - although it bears asking: Just how silly were they prepared to go? A talking llama? Geez.

The next time The Great Vegetable Rebellion episode is broadcast, look at it. You can clearly see Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, and Angela Cartwright trying not to laugh. There are those scenes when the four of them are cutting through the woods and the voice over "oh" and "ah" of the plants being cut to indicate pain was HILARIOUS because they sounded so sexual. You can even see the actors turn their face to laugh. The episode is hysterical!

Jonathan Harris is a but full of himself isn't he? But then again what actor isn't I suppose.

“I realized that the original concept of Smith was a deep-dyed, snarling villain, and he bored me to death,” Harris said in 1998, explaining how he developed the character. “There’s no longevity in a part like that. They’d have to kill me off in five episodes, and I’d be out of a job, unemployed again, right? So I began to sneak in the things for which I am -- at the risk of seeming immodest -- justly famous. Comedic villainy.”

"Grudgingly, Allen was forced to give Harris carte blanche to do what he wanted -- because the improvisations worked."

More dirt:

Great story @ R49!

R50

Wasn't it!

Really is amazing how Jonathan Harris, a so so actor of stage and some television was able to roll suits involved with Lost In Space like that. He basically turned the thing into a vehicle for himself, which seemed only to fuel his grandiose delusions.

Lockhart (who had had enough playing Lassie's mother) and Goddard learned to live with stores revolving around Harris, Mumy and the robot because they carried the show and it was a hit. Without them, it would have been Gilligan's Island without the humor such as it was. Shows like this easily bunred out in tose days. Now there would be a more coherent story arc or multiple arcs to carry the show through a season of may be 8 episodes for cable or streaming.

Wonder what residual payments are for the cast?

Probably zero. Actors weren't paid well and didn't have as sophisticated an understanding of how to negotiate extras like residuals, which woul have been paltry in those does and probably almost non-existent after the first round of sales. Fox and Irwin Allen probably got what little there was to be had.

R26, whoa! Wait minute! What’s that you say? Guy Williams was gay?

Don Diego de la Vega was my first crush. He was soon replaced by Superman (and Clark Kent, but only as George Reeves played him – manly and dominant, not weak and cowardly), but for a short while when I was around 7, Zorro was my dreamboat. I see from R32 (thank you, R32) that my young self had good taste. Besides being gorgeous, Williams was suave and sexy in that screen test.

Unfortunately, I see that the Zorro TV series is not available on Amazon, but they do have The Sign of Zorro, a Disney movie apparently cobbled together from several episodes of the series.

My father went to high school with Williams in the Bronx back in the 1940s.

There was an episode where Dr. Smith got turned into a giant. He sat around moping an crying because they would have to leave him behind if they could not get him back to normal size. My lil gayling mind was like , why doesn't he grab Don and shove him in his pants demanding Don pleasure him??

Major Don West was majorly bulging in R18's link.

Didn't June Lockhart out Harris in an interview one time ?

Guy Williams retired in Buenos Aires after Lost In Space. He was adored there for his portrayal of Zorro. The Argentinian government even gave him a beautiful apartment in a posh section of the city.

I read the best Billy Mumy interview about a few years ago where he talked about Angela Cartwright who played his sister Penny being the first love of his life. To this day, not only are they both still good friends but they happen to be very close with their TV mom June Lockhart. June's in her 90s now. He talks about how him and Angela went to spend a day with her and she was doing the time of yoga where she can get her leg behind her head. I repeat, June is in her 90s. June also like rock music and would take them to the best concerts. How sweet.

[quote] As Mame would say "He isn't British he's from the Bronx... when one is from the Bronx one has to do something....."

We would say, “Talk British, think Yiddish.”

This was June Lockhart a few years ago when she was 90. She looked great.

He was the SPECIAL GUEST STAR who appeared in 83 of 84 episodes .. lol!

Harris reminded me of a more dignified Charles Nelson Reilly.

r64

What an ego

There was no show without Smith and the robot.

R54

Actors who voiced characters on The Flintstones were offered straight scale pay, or less amount upfront but a cut of the action (residuals). The all chose to go with standard pay for their work because according to the voice of Wilma Flintstone "who knew the show would be such a hit????"

Decades later the Flintstones has never truly been off the air in USA and also worldwide; just think of what money the actors and now their estates (if any aren't living" could have made.

Lost in Space ended so abruptly it never got a final episode. Would have been nice for ship to have made it back to earth in crew's actual time and received some sort of hero's welcome, then pan out to fade.

IIRC there was an episode where ship did make it back to earth but was back in time, decades before even any of the older crew members had been born much less younger. Some wanted to remain but the men said how could it work? They would have to find some remote mountain or some place and remain there rest of their lives.

As a kid this was one of my absolute favorite shows, and still is. I liked all of the seasons and episodes equally, and I found them all very entertaining. Even fifty years later, I can still recall most of the plots and much of the dialogue. There are fewer than one hundred episodes, and it was syndicated and played after school on the local UHF stations for years, so I've seen every episode multiple times. I think all in all it is an excellent show, talking vegetables episode included!

Lockhart is a wacky person---her last marriage was officiated by a rabbi--neither was Jewish. She used to like driving around in a fire engine.

[quote]Why do you think John and Don were always at the mining site

That's funny because even as a very little kid, I liked both of them and couldn't stand the flamboyantness of that old queen with back problems, er, um Dr. Smith. So I guess nothings changed.

Jonathan Harris didn't exactly get away with rewriting his lines and the show got campier--Irwin Allen actually encouraged this. LIS was already beginning to overtake Batman in their shared 7:30 pm airing time slot. CBS wanted LIS to be a friendlier family show in that block, not a dark sci-fi show that scared little kids, and so it encouraged Allen to accentuate the Dr. Smith character's larger-than-life silliness and comic tendencies.

Allen didn't throw in the towel; he, the producers and the cast all thought that were returning in the summer of 1968 for the show's fourth season; but CBS decided after Season 3 ended to ultimately cancel the show. Word was they wanted to once again cut the expensive show's budget, and Allen refused to negotiate on that idea.

The Emmys would've always looked their noses down at the idea, but the more I see reruns of that show to this day (I love it), yes I do see how marvelous a character that Harris created in Smith and likewise wonder how he didn't get even nominated once for his role as a supporting actor on the series.

[quote]Are you sure you weren't thinking about 'Trek'?

No, I just re watched the original Lost In Space about 2 years ago and it dawned on me what was happening as a side gig was the ships computer got a virus. It was not the main plot so I cant recall the title of the episode. The ships computer was either hacked or had a virus.

Guy Williams was part Italian and so was my father. Only time I saw an Italian on TV as a good father figure and not some mafia guy. I really wished he was my father back then, he had a lot more hair! Plus his character was a non violent one, fighting was a last resort but if you had to you could. That was very rare concept back then.

And June, was a Dr? My mother was a registered nurse working full time which was rare back then, so I totally thought it was normal for mothers to be college educated professionals and totally without internal conflict be that perfect loving traditional mother.

I got the impression that if Smith had pulled one more stunt, Don West was going to take him out in the chariot to a secluded place and then gag him and fuck him and then threatened Smith with: "this NEVER happened. Got it?"

Smith would have assured Major West that it was going to be there secret and played lots of subtext with Judy during mealtime.

That'd be interesting if Williams were gay.

Back then, plenty of gay men - actors, non-actors - went ahead and got married and had kids.

Hell, they still do it today!

One of my favorite LIS moments was when some traveling space circus came to the planet -- of course, Dr. Smith tricks Will into going off with the circus and (I think) Dr. Marvelo when it appears that Will has some latent power to make things materialize.

Marvelo releases Will from whatever deal was made that tied to Will into going with them.

But, first, John fights some big creature and Will begs Marvelo's assistant (Finestra?) to help him materialize a knife to help John win the fight.

Me? I like to think I would have conjured up a bazooka.

There were rumors that Guy was gay, part of the reason he never worked again and "retired off his investment" right after Lost In Space. He lived another 40 something years after that. Being out of the lime light allowed him to play around. How many actors just quite like that back then?

Dr. Smith was sort of a malevolent Dr. Who without the keys to the spaceship. He was light years less annoying than that brother/sister team who continually screwed up Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space.

R73, that still doesn't ring any bells with me. Unless you're talking about 'Wreck of the Robot,' where the three sinister aliens (later called Saticons) remotely cause various machinery at the Jupiter camp to go wacky. That's not really about the 'computer.'

I don't recall 'Lost in Space' ever calling attention to Jupiter 2's computer; it wasn't an interactive component upon which they really relied much. They usually depended upon the Robot for that.

[quote]Didn't June Lockhart out Harris in an interview one time ?

Apparently, R59. June Lockhart never had much love for Jonathan Harris (she, Guy Williams, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, and Angela Cartright had been largely sidelined by his antics), and after Harris' death, she outed him to an interviewer. I have no idea whether she was telling the truth or it was just her old animosity towards him speaking.

R64 How Harris got that "SPECIAL GUEST STAR" billing ...

Harrison seemed determined to out Harris.

Geez. Let it go, dude.

[quote] IIRC there was an episode where ship did make it back to earth but was back in time,

Yes, the ship landed back on earth outside a small town where the townspeople considered them aliens and set out to capture them all. Smith (as usual) had already aligned himself with the dumb townsfolk, pretending to be an official from a nearby town, and lead the failed effort to capture the Robinsons so he could stay on earth.

In another episode Will gets teleported back to earth to a small New England town during the middle of winter. No one believes his story except one kid who helps him secure a bottle of carbon tetrachloride needed desperately by the Robinsons. He has to get the carbon tet and get back to the roof where he landed by a certain time so he could be teleported back to the planet the Robinsons were stranded on.

[quote] There were rumors that Guy was gay, part of the reason he never worked again and "retired off his investment" right after Lost In Space. He lived another 40 something years after that.

Williams died in 1989 in Argentina. He was found dead of a brain aneurysm in his apartment after going missing for a while. LIS ended in 1968, so he lived 21 years after the show went off the air.

Harris remained quite friendly with Bill Mumy and Mark Goddard until his death. Guy Williams had the most difficulty with Harris. The others, including June Lockhart, understood that Harris was the guy who was singularly responsible for keeping paychecks coming their ways, and that was the most important thing to them in those days.

R85

Again look at Guy William's Wiki or IMBd page, then consider conversation we are having in a different thread about Hollywood actors...

Guy Williams was a good looking enough; tall, rugged, handsome, etc... but he never went further than modeling and "B" motion pictures. With studio system gone he like scores of others went to television where his two largest roles were Zorro and Lost in Space. When LIS ended GW looked around and realized nothing much was shaking (or likely would) in USA/Hollywood so he packed up and went to where is fame still did him much good; Argentina.

If Guy Williams had landed that permanent role on Bonanza that may have made some difference as that show ran several years longer than LIS (ending in 1973), but then again we likely wouldn't have had him as Professor John Robinson. Which when you consider how Johnathan Harris, Bill Mumy and that Robot essentially took over LIS may not have been any great loss career wise.

Long story short Guy Williams had plenty of money by early 1970's and didn't need to work as an actor any longer. So why beat himself up going after limited roles available? Maybe GW could have joined other Italian-American actors of his demographic and played gangsters, crooks, Mafia types, etc... on shows like Cannon, Mannix, and other similar detective/LE dramas; but again why bother when he had plenty of money in bank and didn't need to act for a living.

[quote]Again look at Guy William's Wiki or IMBd page, then consider conversation we are having in a different thread about Hollywood actors..

Odd you pic that as a conclusion he was not gay. Look at the Wiki pages of all the actors BEFORE they came out and they would sound just the same. Look at the ones still in the closet. Unless they did something illegal, its not going to be on a Wiki page or IMDB.

He may have had some money, but certainly not filthy rich like most of them dream of becoming. Very few actors on an successful careers just stop, especially men. Woman aged out from Hollywood back then, men could go on until their 80s.

[quote] Unless you're talking about 'Wreck of the Robot,' where the three sinister aliens (later called Saticons) remotely cause various machinery at the Jupiter camp to go wacky. That's not really about the 'computer.'

Isn't that the definition of hacking? Their "machinery" I am sure would have been computer components in them.

[quote] Así como El Zorro tuvo su capítulo final, la vida de Guy se vio coronada por escenas de varios finales, según quien sea el relator. Algunos dicen que murió solo y pobre. Otras versiones sostienen todo lo contrario. Lo cierto es que Guy se recluyó en la Argentina porque en el país encontraba a un público fiel que no lo olvidaba. Y, desde ya, porque aquí había hallado a su otro gran amor. Se había desprendido de buena parte de sus bienes y optaba por vivir en lujosos departamentos alquilados en el barrio de Recoleta, a los cuales buscaba ya amueblados. Sin equipaje de consideración, podía moverse con mayor comodidad. A su modo, era libre. Tal era su inclinación por cierta bohemia que uno de sus sueños era vivir en un barco.

"Luxurious rented apartments in Recoleta. Hmmm .. Isn't Recoleta one of Buenos Aires' gay hot spots in terms of bars and clubs? Was Guy into Argentine go-go boys?

A lot of shows had great first seasons, then nosedived into silliness or camp. Lost In Space, Bewitched, Happy Days all seemed like much different shows when you look at their first seasons now.

Billy Mumy and Angela Cartwright had great careers as child actors. Did either do anything after LIS?

Anyone remember an episode of LIS called "The Keeper" with Michael Rennie? It was a two-parter, and one of the better episodes.

In the beginning shows, when Penny was featured more, didn't she have some sort of freak monkey pet?

Mark Goddard was hot. Saw him in an old Perry Mason episode, and he is just gorgeous. Did he ever go shirtless on LIS?

r87

Guy Williams moved to Argentina back in early 1970's, you didn't need a boat load of American money then to do so.

GW made a career decision based upon his own reasons at that time, really do not think his sexuality (rumored or confirmed) had anything to do with things. He simply was getting on and wanted to do something else with his life. Having money in the bank (however little you presume it to have been) gave this freedom.

By early 1970's Guy Williams would have been in late forties/early fifties. He had been active in acting since 1947, clearly calculations were made and the guy felt after almost thirty years in the business he'd reached a peak in his career and wanted to move on.

We're not talking about some Tony winning (or nominated) great stage actor, nor same of Oscar nominated (or winning) Hollywood actor/film star. Guy Williams was barely a "B" list film actor with his greatest body of work on television. As repeatedly stated television of 1950's through 1970's was full of film actors, many largely from studio system days. Some worked because they wanted, others out of financial necessity.

Yes, starring in two iconic television series (Zorro and Lost in Space) made GW a household name of sorts, but didn't make him rich by any means.

R89

It is now, don't think it was quite so much or at all in early 1970's when GW moved to Recoleta.

Recoleta is a very beautiful area, and has been a popular tourist destination for decades.

Didn’t June Lockhart date a much younger hippie at one point? Does anyone else remember this? I’ve tried to look it up but Found nothing. I seem to recall seeing it in a movie magazine or a teen magazine back in the day.

R90

What can and often does happen is what starts out as an ensemble work soon reveals one or two actors in break out roles. For better or worse soon the show begins to revolve around that one or those two actors as the ensemble almost becomes supporting players.

Guy Williams and others couldn't have foreseen Johnathan Harris basically taking over LIS. Again by the end show was largely revolving around Dr. Zachary Smith, Will Robinson and that robot.

The Big Ban Theory proves this still goes on today. Sheldon soon became center of that show gaining a spin off (Young Sheldon) and prompting things to shut down once Jim Parsons called it quits.

Problem with LIS was after having given Johnathan Harris so much freedom and feeding that monstrous ego what could suits do? Had the series survived what could they do with Dr. Smith's character that wouldn't perhaps harm ratings, or worse prompt Miss Ghurl to throw a tantrum and start making demands.

It done't know if he was a hippy, but was younger than her and some sort of would be artist. She had a wacky streak--driving around in a fire engine and so forth. She really wanted to throw off all that housewifery from "Lassie" and show off her self in silver lame, but expect for the lame, she wound up playing just another mother. And then she played the dull replacement for Bea benderet on "Petticoat Junction".

R94 I remember it. It was kind of a tabloid thing. His name was Bob Corff.

Omg R97 That is exactly the picture I remember seeing, it made an impression on my young self for some reason. Might’ve been the same article too. Thank you for unearthing that.

I had to go look up June’s boy toy Bob Corff. He’s a voice coach and still quite handsome.

R99 You're welcome. And Corff had the long hair and beard a lot, because he was playing Jesus in the "Jesus Christ Superstar" touring company. He was liberal, though, and he and June did a radio interview together promoting The Peace March in Washington, DC.

R100 Yes, he is.

The funny thing is, as a kid I remember thinking their age difference - 24! 46! - was shocking and even disgusting. It was pretty unusual for back then.

Wow, you just blew up my Maureen Robinson memory.

Croff showed some skin in a two-part episode of The Bold Ones (1972).

[quote] In the beginning shows, when Penny was featured more, didn't she have some sort of freak monkey pet?

It wasn't at the beginning, but after they had been spacewrecked, Penny did get a simian pet. Its species was called a Bloop (which is also the noise it made), and Penny named hers "Debbie," which is a pretty insane name for a pet of any kind.

I feel sorry for poor Angela Lockhart having to work with that monkey--it probably bit her. (Monkeys are not easy to work with.)

I would think after LIS Guy could have found a sitcom playing a dad

not unlike Patrick Duffy did Step by Step after Dallas ended.

I don't think I ever saw a full episode of SBS, but boy, did I love him as Bobby Ewing.

The show lost me after Pam was killed off; or burned off. Also, losing Donna -- a family member who wouldn't take any of J.R.'s shit -- was a huge loss to the show.

r106, I have never seen a weirder or more shameless attempt to steer the topic of a thread to something else entirely.

You should feel very proud of yourself.

The Saticons were first to say' Resistance is futile' long before Star Trek TNG.

They also created a machine to hijack and control other machines You could say they were the first hackers!

Don was always crashing the spaceship

Is that the episode where Will hides in the ceiling of his cabin?

LOL R109, I never realized that. Brawn before Brains.

The new Debbie is a chicken!

The scale of the ship always bothered me. Supposed to be 2 main decks but then below that was an engine room and where did they keep the space pod AND the glass chariot? So someone did a re-design in 3D to make it work. That ship would have to be a lot bigger on the outside.

R107, oh, lighten up; threads go off topic and onto tangents all the time.

This one has already veered off into Guy's orientation, his life in Argentina, Cary Grant, The Rifleman, and Ma Robinson dating a hippie who appeared in an episode of The Bold Ones.

Please.

Has anyone posted Dr. Smith screams yet? He sounds like the gentleman famously overcome by Princess Diana's death.

R84

Carbon tetrachloride is better known to many as "perc", a chemical used for spot removal and dry cleaning for textiles. Product "Carbona" like many other spot removers once contained carbon tetrachloride.

IIRC the stuff has been banned in California for ages now, and mostly removed from products elsewhere.

R105

"During the second season, they were having problems with the chimp who played the Bloop. It kept biting everyone. So the trainer had the chimp's teeth taken out and replaced with dentures but Irwin had the Bloop replaced."

From same link:

"Irwin decided to add a talking giraffe to the cast but discovered it was too tall to fit into the shots with the casts so he changed it to a talking kangaroo with the voice of Hermione Gingold but that was changed to a talking purple llama with the voice of actor Richard Haydn.

The llama (yes, a real llama) was painted purple and added to The Great Vegetable Rebellion episode and was supposed to join the cast at the end onboard the Jupiter 2. However, Dr. Smith, who was turned into a stalk of celery in the episode, was constantly attacked by the animal and refused to return to work unless the animal was gone.

The llama was out and the part rewritten for actor James Millhollin (who is listed in the credits as Willoughby the llama) but he ultimately did not join the cast."

Bill Mumy was everywhere in 1960's television as a child actor it seems. After LIS he had some other roles but things went sort of quiet as he aged into a teen then adult actor. It is the exception rather than rule for many child actors to have successful adult acting careers.

Ron Howard has been fortunate that he went from a child on Andy Griffith, then got other roles as teen and young adult ultimately landing Richie Cunningham on Happy Days (among other roles), then largely moved to other side of camera as director/producer.

Guy Williams wanted out for the third and final year. Allen talked him into staying by revamping the show a bit to feature him more and less Smith/Will/Robot.

Guy DEMANDED he must have at least one close up per episode in the third year as a condition of his staying.

[quote]Isn't that the definition of hacking? Their "machinery" I am sure would have been computer components in them.

R88/R108L An exercise bike and a garden hose? I don't think so.

Mumy seems like one of the few people of his generation who came out of child acting ok. Married to the same woman for many years. Able to dabble in comic book writing and other pursuits. He had a music career that didn't amount to much, but he's done a ton of voice work.

Mumy was half of Barnes & Barnes, for those of you who like the song "Fish Heads."

R122, you should have included a link! ;)

Thanks, r123. My bad.

Smith had the hots or Don and buried that attraction in disguised animosity to him. I've seen this happen in real life between straight guys and some gay guys.

It's the result of an unrequited attraction.

I've always heard that TV didn't pay well back then, but Mumy doesn't seem to have any money worries. Seems like he's been a dilettante his whole adult life. His parents must have been smart with his earnings.

[quote]The scale of the ship always bothered me.

Ha ha, yeah! That exterior set was obviously too small.

[quote] His parents must have been smart with his earnings.

R126 That's what Mumy told People magazine in a 1991 interview. .. I'm also thinking his parents were probably pretty well off as well, and "Junior" could have inherited some assets after their passing. (He was an only child.) .. His father has been listed as "a California cattle rancher", but according to Wiki they became good friends with actor, Jimmy Stewart, when they were all members of the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church, so one imagines they resided in the area. (Billy eventually attended Santa Monica College). If they cashed in or Billy inherited anything in Beverly Hills or the Westside that alone could be worth millions right there. Ever-rising SoCal property values allowed many to just keep growing their equity and become millionaires with little work. .. And Mumy himself hasn't been idle, as he's had something of a music career as well.

[quote] His parents must have been smart with his earnings.

R126 That's what Mumy told People magazine in a 1991 interview. .. I'm also thinking his parents were probably pretty well off as well, and "Junior" could have inherited some assets after their passing. (He was an only child.) .. His father has been listed as "a California cattle rancher", but according to Wiki they became good friends with actor, Jimmy Stewart, when they were all members of the Beverly Hills Presbyterian Church, so one imagines they resided in the area. (Billy eventually attended Santa Monica College). If they cashed in or Billy inherited anything in Beverly Hills or the Westside that alone could be worth millions right there. Ever-rising SoCal property values allowed many to just keep growing their equity and become millionaires with little work. .. And Mumy himself hasn't been idle, as he's had something of a music career as well.

looking back, surprised there wasn't MORE homoerotic senes on LIS?.. i mean they were competing with batman and gosh knows that show had EVERY SINGLE EPISODE blatant sexualized homoerotica with pervy kink aspects to it even some adult suggestive humor too...

Mumy was unavoidable in the early days of tv, so even if he was making scale, he would have had quite a nest egg to invest. In his later adult years, he has done a tone of voice work, so I'm sure he does ok.

R129 In the episode Two Weeks In Space, Smith tells Mr Zumdish that the refurbished Jupiter 2-which he turned into an Alien Hotel was the "gayest' resort in the whole galaxy.

I love you, R11. I have been posting the “ he was straight” thing here for years and no one believed me. Thank you.

Mumy will always be known for that one Twilight Zone episode. The only starring role post-Lost In Space that I know of was "Bless The Beasts and Children".

Mumy was one of the cast of Babylon 5. He was a supporting character throughout the series.

As a child, I also wanted Penny as a sister. But Judy? Girl, who are you? Why are you even part of this cast? You look like you should be studding at beauty school right now. No wonder you didn't get very many lines.

Where does the time go?

It's been remaster, quite an improvement it looks like.

Harris had the broad body shape that some describe as child-bearing hips.

[quote]In his later adult years, he has done a tone of voice work, so I'm sure he does ok.

He doesn't do a ton of voice work though, according to imdb. Other than Babylon 5 and Biography, he's been doing one or two guest spots per year. Of course he might be doing a lot of radio, commercials, industrials, his music career might be more lucrative than I would have thought. And there's always conventions. But I bet R128 was right about the family money.

[quote]Guy DEMANDED he must have at least one close up per episode in the third year as a condition of his staying.

He could have really upped his Q-rating if he demanded a close up of his bulge. I didn't notice as a kid, but I saw an ep once years later and it looked like he wasn't wearing underwear.

Guy's experience as a male model also influences his body language on the show. Just look at the way he poses sometimes.

Guy Williams as the very handsome John Robinson.

Guy Williams as a male model.

Armando Catalano.

R129 Maybe because Batman didn't have any children in the cast like Lost In Space did.

Batman also had a secret life sliding down a poll into a dark cave with a boy wonder in fetish gear. Hoods and masks included.

I much preferred the cool masterspy Smith. Ruthlessness and nerves of steel. Plus a doctor of unquestionable ability to be selected and function as chief flight surgeon for the Jupiter 2 mission.

007 was a wimp compared to Smith.

Mark Goddard, reflecting on Dr. Smith/ Jonathon Harris :

You know, for Jonathan, it was gruelling days, because he was in just about every scene, he had a lot of weight to pull on the show, he had a lot of lines to learn and he worked with them creatively. He made up lines, he re-wrote lines for himself and he worked very hard. Plus, he took time in the make up chair, it wasn't just thrown on, he cared about that, he cared about every aspect of Lost in Space, because he is the consummate professional. We all were professionals, we all had a great background before doing Lost In Space, but Jonathan had done a lot of theatrical work, television work and movies. He worked very hard on the set.

Jonathan and I get along real well. He's a wonderful man, he worked very hard in the part. We had a lot of laughs and we still do get together. We really share memories and we have a great time.

I found this photo of him where he is shirtless, not an easy photo to find, unfortunately. There is some chest hair working its way up toward his neck, which is what I was hoping for.

R147... amazing since their characters DESPISED EACH OTHER...

even as a kid, i was always hoping they had some homoerotic scenes together... his character (mark goddard) shirtless tied up with dr. smith, displayed homoerotically shirtless with dr. smith, goddard's character brainwashed and dr. smith makes him his slave and so on and so on.. where oh where were the writers and directors of "batman" to not have had some input like this on lost in space! laugh!

Homo stuff!

R149... hmm to feel up and grope mark goddard's major don west character's green soft velour thick bulge! lol!...

Getting rough and ready here!

Your bottoming tonight,Smith!

A bit off topic but everyone’s agrees the Parker posey one is a bit more insufferable

R152 Begs the question, when would Smith not be bottoming?

Up late watching Barnaby Jones; one of the guest stars is none other than Mark Goddard.

Only reason watch this dreck is to get my eye full of young Mark Shera, and the occasional good looking guest star. Tonight hit the jackpot

[quote]when would Smith not be bottoming?

I just threw up in my mouth.

Mark Goddard before he went into space in silver underwear.

Brought to you by Kent Cigarettes.

What frame is the underwear R157, dont have time to watch the whole movie.

That last scene with Johnny telling Cully he's the top is homoerotic.

I loved that series growing up! Dr. Smith was basically Waldo Lydecker in space. The first episodes had a Twilight Zone quality to them, serious and dark, and then they went to the end of the diving board and fucking jumped in the camp pool. Some of the episodes were really wild, like the mirror episode. I remember the vegetable one, it was like Bat Man meets the writers of Lost in Space. It was a perfect series for it's time.

When I was three or four years old, I had one of those Remco toy Robots, with which I was madly in love. It was my one and only security toy, like Linus' blanket, that I took with me everywhere (even to day school, on a show-and-tell day, where I got upset that other kids were touching my toy robot. It wasn't pretty), and even slept with, even though it was not a soft, cuddly, bedtime toy. I eventually wore it out and broke it. It's the one toy from my childhood that I truly miss.

Whether we watched Lost in Space on CBS or Star Trek on NBC was an issue my parents and I fought over. For the most part they won, and I didn't get to see most of Lost in Space until my early teen years, when it was in syndication, relegated to Pat Robertson's television station, KXTX-TV 39, where several episodes were censored, i.e. not aired at all, due to fundamentalist Christian issues.

S1E19, 'Ghost in Space' - a seance is held

S1E25, 'The Space Croppers' - folk magic, a werewolf

S1E27, 'The Lost Civilization' - I've never known why. Maybe because Will had to kiss a princess.

S1E29, 'Follow the Leader' - possession by a spirit

S2E12, 'A Visit to Hades' - lighthearted depiction of someone mistaken for the Devil

S2E22, 'The Cave of the Wizards' - again, something like possession

S3E05, 'The Space Primevals' - depiction of evolutionary development, a machine serving as a god

S3E07, 'The Haunted Lighthouse' - J-5's invisible pet, the Zaybo, came across too much like a demon or witch's familiar

S3E21, 'Space Beauty' - the winner of a beauty pageant must be wed to a flaming suit of armor. Obviously the Devil...

Because Lost in Space always had teasers for next week, I quickly became aware that there were episodes I wasn't getting to see. The Christian Broadcasting Network left the teasers in place, but declined to show the episodes. Towards the end of the 1970s, CBN gradually relaxed a little, and I saw a couple of them. But most had to wait for the 1990s, when I bought the Columbia House VHS tapes. Episodes like 'The Lost Civilization' and 'Follow the Leader' were shockers; I'd never seen them before.

After only 3 weeks in Hollywood, Mark Goddard landed a cowboy role in the TV series Johnny Ringo.

Bam!

the 1st season (black and white) of lost in space was the best.. even creepy and scary in some of the episodes like that one where they found the long dead gone civilization statues in a cave and will and penny (penny's alien monkey gets lost) gets trapped behind a wall.. the music in the background added to the mood as well..

then the show went color and campy...

remember the episode where the planet was filled with teenagers cool teenagers who ruled and dr.smith became a hippie among them! and don and john were considered ANCIENT and both couldn't handle the "loud" rock n 'roll groovy music that was aired! laugh!..

that episode was totally weird-a-rama!...

Yeah, the first season was the best. I was never really into campy before I even knew what it was. I really think it could have gone on for 8 or 9 seasons had they stayed more serious sci-fi instead of making it a joke.

Irronicly I just watched the first 2 seasons of the Netflix remake. First season was great! Loved all the characters, female Dr. Smith with fucked up borderline personalty. Implausible situations that seemed plausible through cleaver thinking. Fantastic effects and backgrounds. Then in season two, all about the fucking robot and will. Almost every episode. Got boring and I think they semi canceled it but will complete a season 3. Maybe if they are smart they will learn from the past and get back to a story-line that dose not focus on 10 year old boys.

R161 -

You just reminded me that I used to own a lot of those VHS tapes of LIS back in the day, too! I never saw LIS until I was a little guy in the early 1970s.

I remember how excited I was when the DVD SSN 1 set was released. It was $60 at Best Buy and I got it on the first day it came out. I, of course, eventually bought the other two seasons which they split up as two separate volumes, I guess to make them easier to afford.

Remember when new DVD releases were interesting and fun...???

I keep telling myself I'm getting the blu-ray set, but keep cheapening out.

I think "Dr. Smith" taught me how to act like a snob. I'd have to say that he is one of my top five television characters of all time.

Jonathan Harris did two of the best original Twilight Zone episodes. Not a trace of Smith to be seen.

R167, it depends upon which version of Smith you're expecting. His portrayal of 'The Doctor' in 'Twenty Two' is a great deal like early Dr Smith, from the first five episodes of 'Lost in Space.' At one point, he tells dancer Liz Powell something to the effect that, when he sees her at the nightclub, he'll expect a dance and a wink from her. Ugh! What a creep! He delivers the line with much the same flat, emotionless affect he used for his doppleganger 'Zeno' in 'West of Mars' (Lost in Space S02E11).

Correction noted. I meant no trace of the shrill screaming buffoon Smith.

R164. that was Episode 4, 'There Were Giants in the Earth', probably my favorite episode as a young teen. The creepy music in the Lost City are Bernard Hermann cues from 'The Day the Earth Stood Still.' First, Will and Penny become trapped in the crypt behind the revolving panel, then they are joined by Judy and Don. In both cases, their attention is arrested by the mummified corpse hanging in the niche inside the crypt; apparently, there's several of them in there. While standing there looking at it, the panel swings shut, and cannot be opened from the inside. Then the earthquake starts; John and Maureen try to cut them out of the crypt with a laser. This was the cliffhanger, picking back up at the beginning of Episode 5, and a piece of John Williams' score, aptly titled 'The Earthquake.'

The set for the 'Lost City' has mixed motifs, like the wall painting of two rampant lions, somewhat reminiscent of the Lion Gate of Mycenae, but most of it is Aztec, with feathered serpent heads at the tops of each of the columns. The stonework and niches resemble Incan architecture. Bearing in mind Irwin Allen's notorious cheap-assedness, there's no way this set was built for Lost in Space. It must have been part of some Aztec-themed Fox Studios production more or less contemporary with the episode, but I can't find anything that might match in the 20th Century Fox filmography for late 1965.

R170.. thank you very much for your informative post reply!.. just great!...

Am I the only one who wants the 50th Anniversary soundtrack CD collection?

I just checked Amazon...it's currently $562.00!!! Yes, $562.00 (USD)

Yowza...

R172, see if you can still pick it up from Monsters in Motion, for $149.

I don't think you'll do better - if I recall, that was about what I paid for it back when it was new at LaLa Land Records.

So, John and Maureen were having sex on the Jupiter 2? Studly Major West just jerked off for 3 years?

I give John Robinson major props.

After two daughters, Maureen gives him a son and he's not this dark-haired athletic jock whom John can play sports with and wrestle.

He gets Will -- who has his mother's coloring and isn't that athletic.

But John loved him anyway.

John Robinson is right up there with Lucas McCain in terms of all-time great TV dads.

I so agree with the best TV dad image, I think I remember an episode where John Robson was teaching his son it's not good to fight to settle an argument but sometimes you do have to stand up for yourself. Very progressive for the time when every other show was a western gun shoot out or fist fight. Will's character was so different it was kind of a metaphor to me for being gay.

[quote]Major West just jerked off for 3 years?

Yes, why do you think he was always so short tempered with Smith all the time. Maureen Robinson was not going to let him boink her daughter before marriage, and what would they do with more spawn on that ship! The monkey would have to go!

"Uncle Bitterbottom"?