‘Lost in Space’ Actor Was 87 Years Old – The Hollywood Reporter

From left: Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Billy Mumy and Angela Cartwright in “Lost in Space”

20th Century Fox Film Corporation/Courtesy Everett Collection

Mark Goddard, who played Major Don West, the hot-tempered pilot of Jupiter 2, on the 1960s CBS adventure series. Lost in space, He died. He was 87 years old.

Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts, his third wife, Evelyn Bezulich, said. Hollywood Reporter. The cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis.

Goddard worked as a series regular on Four Star Television Johnny Ringo And Detectives When his agent called him about coming on board the new ship Lost in spaceIt was created and produced by Irwin Allen.

The sci-fi show revolves around the adventures of the Robinson family: Professor John Robinson (Jay Williams); his biochemist wife Maureen (June Lockhart); and their children, Judy, Penny, and Will (Martha Christine, Angela Cartwright, and Billy Mumy, respectively).

Major West was also on board, as were the stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) and the robot (designed by “Forbidden Planet”Robert Kinoshita, played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tofield). Their mission to colonize space, which began in October 1997, goes awry when their spacecraft is derailed by a bumbling Dr. Smith.

“It’s about a family going into space, and there’s going to be a lot of adventures and earthquakes…” Goddard said, recalling his agent’s pitch during an interview for Tom Weaver’s 1995 book, They fought in creature features.

“I said, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know, I’m not sure, because of the subject matter.'” And [Goddard’s agent] So he said, ‘Okay, listen, just do it and don’t worry about it.’ Take the money. Because no one will see it and it will never be sold.”

Backed by a $600,000 pilot that took 21 days to complete, Lost in space It ran for 83 episodes over three seasons, from September 1965 until March 1968. Goddard’s character had a basic conflict with Dr. Smith, and like everyone else on the show, the robot overcame the stage.

As Goddard wrote in his 2008 memoir, To space and backWhen he first saw himself wearing his tight silver spacesuit, he “took a deep breath, took a second look at the picture of an aluminum-wrapped baked potato and said to myself, ‘How the hell did this happen?’”

The youngest of five children, Charles Harvey Goddard was born on July 24, 1936 in Lowell, Massachusetts. Raised in the coastal town of Scituate, where his father owned a general store, he attended Holy Cross School but left during his junior year in 1958 to pursue acting.

“I felt like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to be the next Jimmy Dean.’ “When I went to New York, there were about five hundred Jimmy Deans running around,” Weaver said. “We all had our red jackets and our little motorcycles.”

Goddard studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts while working evenings at Woolworths, then came to Hollywood in 1959 and appeared in an episode of Venice And in a TV movie, A woman on the runWhich starred Joan Crawford and was directed by Dick Powell.

Both projects were for Four Star, the company co-founded by Powell, David Niven, Charles Boyer, and Joel McCrea.

Goddard then played Cooley, a former Deputy Gunslinger (Don Durant). Johnny Ringoa 1959–1960 Western series for CBS and Four Star that was the first series produced by Aaron Spelling.

When that show was cancelled, Paul put Goddard on ABC Detectives In September 1960. He played Sgt. Chris Ballard infused star Robert Taylor with a dose of youthful exuberance. (Adam West joined the series for its final season on NBC.)

Goddard then appeared in episodes of programs such as Burke’s law, Beverly Hillbillies, Bill Dana Show And Perry Mason Before playing the husband of Elinor Donahue’s character in the 1964-1965 CBS comedy Many happy returns, located in a department store. (After all, he worked at Woolworths).

Goddard said he had never been tested as an actor Lost in spaceAlthough he found the atmosphere on set difficult.

“There was tension the whole time,” Weaver said. “There was tension with the cinematographer, there was tension with the writers coming down, and there was always something going on. …You know what they say, ‘A fish stinks out of its head?’

“It’s not fair to say because Irwin died and he can’t defend himself, but I think the kind of perfectionism that he had, what he wanted and the way he wanted it, his very cold manner with everyone — that permeated from the beginning.” It’s for the writers, for the directors, for the actors, for the crew. “You can feel it.”

Goddard said he was earning $1,170 a week by the end of the series.

On Facebook, Mummy Named Goddard is “a really good actor… naturally gifted and trained” and noted that they “had a lot of great, unforgettable times together during the three years of filming the series. We got into some stupid trouble.”

Goddard has also appeared in films Uncle monkey (1965) with Annette Funicello; Anger for living (1965), starring Suzanne Pleshette; And Extra love (1967) during that era.

after Lost in spaceGoddard said he was stereotyped as a “space show” actor. He worked in soap operas One life to live And Public Hospital; He guest starred in shows such as Petrocelli, Streets of San Francisco, Benson And Barnaby Jones; He appeared in the 1977 film Blue sun.

He had a cameo (as did Lockhart, Cartwright, and Christine) in 1998 Lost in space The feature adaptation had Matt LeBlanc in the role of Don West. In the Netflix series, which ran for three seasons from 2018 to 2021, his character was played by Ignacio Serricchio.

Goddard went on to complete his college education, earning a master’s degree and teaching children in special education for more than 20 years in his home state.

In addition to his wife, survivors include his daughter, Melissa Goddard, a producer of the 1992 film. Poison ivy; Sons John and Michael. and sisters June and Patricia. His second wife was actress Susan Anspach (Five easy pieces, Bloom in love).