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Guy Williams who played Professor John Robinson was a former fashion model, who went on to star as Zorro as well as in Lost in Space.
In the 1970s, Guy Williams retired to Argentina, where he died in 1989 of a brain aneurysm at age 65.
Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Charasuchin, was from a family of poor Russian Jewish immigrants who eked out a living in the garment district. He became famous for his role as the dastardly Dr Zachary Smith. While he remained great friends with Billy Mumy, there was tension on the set between him and Guy Williams and June Lockhart who were meant to be the show's main stars. He died in 2002 at age 88.
In the 1970s, Guy Williams retired to Argentina, where he died in 1989 of a brain aneurysm at age 65.
Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Charasuchin, was from a family of poor Russian Jewish immigrants who eked out a living in the garment district. He became famous for his role as the dastardly Dr Zachary Smith. While he remained great friends with Billy Mumy, there was tension on the set between him and Guy Williams and June Lockhart who were meant to be the show's main stars. He died in 2002 at age 88.
· Originally titled "Space Family Robinson", but changed as CBS was concerned that the title was too close to the title of the Disney film Swiss Family Robinson (1960).
· Jonathan Harris was the first actor to receive a Special Guest Star status on a TV series.
· Irwin Allen pitched his idea for the series to CBS programmer James Aubrey, who immediately snapped up the idea. A couple of weeks later Gene Roddenberry pitched his idea for "Star Trek" (1966) to Aubrey, who turned him down as he felt that "Lost in Space" was the more commercial of the two.
· Jonathan Harris was the first actor to receive a Special Guest Star status on a TV series.
· Irwin Allen pitched his idea for the series to CBS programmer James Aubrey, who immediately snapped up the idea. A couple of weeks later Gene Roddenberry pitched his idea for "Star Trek" (1966) to Aubrey, who turned him down as he felt that "Lost in Space" was the more commercial of the two.
· June Lockhart had the biggest parking space on the 20th Century-Fox lot because she would often drive her favourite vehicle to work - a 1913 fire truck.
· Jonathan Harris was responsible for coming up with a lot of his sarcastic comments to the robot himself.
· Jonathan Harris was responsible for coming up with a lot of his sarcastic comments to the robot himself.
· The robot cost $75,000 to produce and weighed in excess of 200 pounds. Two of them were made for the series.
· The robot's chest lights and motorized feelers were powered by an electrical cord which can occasionally be spotted.
· The space ship was originally named "Gemini XII", but was changed to avoid confusion with the then-current NASA program.
· The robot's chest lights and motorized feelers were powered by an electrical cord which can occasionally be spotted.
· The space ship was originally named "Gemini XII", but was changed to avoid confusion with the then-current NASA program.
· It has long been rumored that Dr. Smith was only supposed to be on for a few episodes and then get killed off. This was never true, just a probable scenario imagined by Jonathan Harris, who was listed as special guest star throughout the run of the series. This billing occurred because the billing of the other six actors was already contractually set before the show went into production as a series. "Special Guest Star" was Harris' request and producer Irwin Allen eventually agreed.
· The series takes place in the future of 1997 (specifically the Jupiter II, en route for Alpha Centauri, blasted off on October 16th 1997); the film based on the series, Lost in Space (1998), began production in 1997.
· In some scenes where the Robot is seen in close-up, only the top of the robot is worn by the actor.
· The series takes place in the future of 1997 (specifically the Jupiter II, en route for Alpha Centauri, blasted off on October 16th 1997); the film based on the series, Lost in Space (1998), began production in 1997.
· In some scenes where the Robot is seen in close-up, only the top of the robot is worn by the actor.
- Although the Robot had no name, in the third-season episode entitled "The Time Merchant", it was shown in its packing crate, and the crate was labelled "ONE General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental ROBOT" with the G, U, N, T, E, and all letters in "ROBOT" in red capital letters, while all the other letters were black; some have suggested that this was supposed to convey the acronym "GUNTER".
- In early episodes Dr. Smith is a purely evil, cold-hearted saboteur who makes repeated attempts to murder the Robinsons. He was even given eye-liner to make him look more sinister and cat-like. Harris hated playing the snarling, unappealing villain and worried his character would soon be killed off unless changes were made. To that end he saved his role by gradually transforming him into a sympathetic comedic-villain.
- Jonathan Harris and Mark Goddard were the only actors to appear in every episode of the series
- Harris was supposed to reprise his role as Dr. Zachary Smith on a TV movie, Lost In Space: The Journey Home, but became ill and died late in 2002; hence, production was scrapped.
- The second season aired in the same time slot as Batman, and it has been suggested that the camp tone was adopted to compete with Batman. There was a growing emphasis on Smith, Will and the Robot at the expense of the other characters. Smith's change in character was not appreciated by the other actors. According to Billy Mumy, Mark Goddard and Guy Williams disliked the shift from serious science fiction.
- The Forbidden Planet character Robby the Robot guest starred in two episodes: War of the Robots, and Condemned of Space. Robby was also designed by Robert Kinoshita, who designed the Lost in Space robot nearly ten years later.