Jonathan Harris and Doctor Smith

Kids tuned in to Lost in Space to see the self-absorbed Dr. Smith get his comeuppance. I suspect some people on the show’s set wanted the same thing to happen to the man who played him, Jonathan Harris.

Lost in Space started out in 1965 as a science fiction show centered around the Robinson family marooned on a planet (you know, like in "Swiss Family Robinson"). June Lockhart and Guy Williams were supposed to be the stars. It quickly changed. Harris got permission to re-write his lines and, to be blunt, he made himself the star of the show with his scenery-chewing acting style and comic byplay with a robot voiced by Dick Tufeld. There wasn’t a whole lot for Lockhart and Williams to do on screen, even less for the rest of the cast (with the notable exception of very skilled child actor Billy Mumy). I suspect they weren’t happy about having their show hijacked by someone who, like, Dr. Smith, thought very highly of himself.

Harris had been an accomplished stage and live television actor, first appearing on Broadway in February 1942 in “Heart of a City” at Henry Miller’s theatre in the comparatively small role of a Polish soldier (Harris and several other cast members were added after a three-day shake-down at the Shubert in New Haven).

The over-the-top performance of Harris attracted the attention of newspaper columnists. A number were written about him during the show’s three-year run. Let’s pull out a couple distributed by King Features Syndicate. The first appeared in papers on November 16, 1965.

Character Actor Plays Villain
By CHARLES WITBECK
HOLLYWOOD — “Dr. Zachary Smith is a lovely, wicked man!” declared actor Jonathan Harris, talking about his villainous character who seems to be running off with the liveliest lines und scenes on the Wednesday night CBS special effects wonder for children, “Lost in Space.”
Zachary Smith is a fairy tale type villain kids can boo, for he leers with extra malice, and he utters flowery, florid language. “Smith has the softest heart,” added Harris. “He's really a cowardly lion who would rather be bad than good.”
Versatile character actor Harris seems to be safely ensconced in a winner with “Lost In Space,” and he has managed to pull off a first, by being listed each week on the show credits as special guest star. “It really doesn't mean anything except to me,” Harris acknowledged.
Without Dr. Smith, “Lost in Space” would merely pit the sweet, earnest, intrepid and wooden Robinson family against the space elements for weekly conflicts. Smith, the villain, was a last minute addition to the show, and he really shares leading honors with the tremendously inventive 20th Century Fox special effects crew who make all the eerie gadgets and cosmic storms work.
Entitled To Awards
“The special effects men should be coated with awards for the incredible production,” says Harris. “Producer Irwin 'Voyage To the Bottom of the Sea' Allen is willing to tackle anything because he knows that crew can't be stumped.
“Some gadgets are very complicated like my robot who really doesn't care for me. Others are relatively simple, like the alien people who will be seen shortly on the air. The alien people are just heads which have been put together with saran wrap, minus bodies. They hover about and speak in a most cultured, genteel manner. We earthlings are like boobs beside them.”
The wicked, talkative Dr. Smith marks Harris third TV series, so he is quite familiar to fans who may discount his villainous qualities, Harris worked with Michael Rennie for three years in “The Third Man,” filming in England and on the Continent, and then he played the urbane, snippy hotel manager on “The Bill Dana Show.” Like Dana and Don Adams, Harris is unable to figure out what went wrong with the Sunday night series.
“Don Adams is repeating his same role of the idiot detective, and he's a big hit on 'Get Smart.' I'm being ugly on Wednesday night and I'm safe, and you know everybody is always happy to see Dana as Jose Jiminez. It's a puzzle.”
Never Leading Man
Harris has played character parts in stock, on Broadway and in TV for years. “I never was a romantic leading man,” he explained. “I never got the girl because I had just killed the girl.”
Harris believes actors should look in mirrors a lot. “Look in the mirror closely,” he advises, “and find out what you can sell. Then go out and sell it better than the others.”
He also believes life forms a kind of pattern. “Things happen because they should, and because I have earned them,” Harris continued. “I have no false modesty.”
Harris had four long runs with Broadway's “Teahouse of the August Moon," "The Madwoman of Chaillot,” and “Hazel Flagg,” and then he was fired for the first time in his life from a Broadway play.
“I was upset for two weeks,” he recounted, “and then a call came from Hollywood for a movie. It worked out for the best and it had to happen that way. From that point on I spent most of my time out here in pictures or in TV.”
'I Did My Homework'
Producer Allen had no special instructions for Harris after the actor signed on the dotted line. “Irwin let me work out my own approach,” said Harris. “I'm very good at preparation and I did my homework on the character before We started filming. Then Irwin watched me very carefully for the first few days, gave his approval and that was I all.”
The cowardly lion, who likes to scare little boys and girls, I pretends to be very bad on Wednesday night. “I can be evil,” said the actor with gusto. “But I worry a little about my robot. You see, he's really me, so I can't trust him an inch. Perhaps the alien people will settle his hash.”

In January 1966, ABC moved The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and replaced it on the Wednesday night schedule with Batman. Soon, the Caped Crusader started taking the audience away from Lost In Space. But Batman begun to sink, just as the confident Harris thought it would, as he explained in this column from November 28, 1966. You’d almost expect him to call Batman a “Neanderthal ninny.”

Actor Harris to Play Dual Role In Next ‘Lost in Space’ Episode
By CHARLES WITBECK
TV Key, Inc.
Hollywood — Children's favorite Jonathan Harris, that petty, mobile-faced trouble-maker Dr. Smith on “Lost in Space,” really outdoes himself Wednesday night, plying his talkative self, and look-alike Zeno, the fastest gun fighter in space, in an episode titled “West of Mars.”
Jonathan spent six days talking to himself, acting out two parts, an exercise the ebullient actor reveled in. “It was a bit much,” Jonathan modestly declared. “I had to be told who I was constantly, and was allotted about five minutes to figure out my character, but we managed.”
Zeno the gunfighter is played in the traditional deadpan western style, except for a habit of calling people "pussy cat" “Oh, my, Zeno is a glum one,” Harris admitted, “a complete opposite from the expressive doctor who dotes on phrases like 'Oh the pain,' or 'Never fear, Smith is here.'”

“Never fear” Smith leads the attack on rival “Batman” which seems to have lost its novelty, and sinks each week in boredom. The contest between the two juvenile offerings has ceased being a tug of war. The Smith show canters along with a comfortable rating lead, something Jonathan predicted long ago.
“Pretense is never successful on television,” explains the actor. “And 'Batman' was based on pretense. Some called it 'camp,' but our opposition really didn't fit the term.”
The character of Dr. Smith quickly became the “boss man” in “Lost in Space” last season, because Smith has some meat to his part as the protagonist. Guy Williams, the noble space captain and his sweet wife, June Lockhart, were caught in a character straitjacket and seem unable to expand their solid roles. As a result, Smith carries the show, playing a larger-than-life part.
“We give a slap, tickle and a giggle, and slip in a moral here and there,” said Harris. “In the process we have hooked the parents along with the kids.”
Jonathan has proof, not from the ratings, but from personal experience. Recently, 5,000 people stood in the rain to catch a glimpse of Dr. Smith in San Jose, Calif., a feat which flabbergasted the experienced character actor.
“I'm a Cary Grant fan, but I wouldn't go out in the rain to see him,” Jonathan said. “Yet, there were acres of faces out in the downpour waiting for Smith.” A similar reception greeted Jonathan and his wife early last summer in Bangkok, Thailand, where “Lost in Space” dazzles viewers. Harris appeared on TV in a live broadcast and was mobbed trying to leave the station.
“I was almost trampled to death with love,” is the way Jonathan put it. “The Thais are affectionate, open, happy people, and they show it without reservation. In Hong Kong, Harris was looked upon with interest for his role of hotel manager in “The Bill Dana Show” enjoying a run, but there were no mob scenes. “The Chinese are different,” said Harris. “They look, but they don't bother you.”
Now “Lost in Space” made its debut this summer in Tokyo, and Harris understands the series is already number one, and has crossed off Japan in his travel itinerary to stay in one piece. “We wouldn't stand a chance in those Tokyo crowds,” he said. “We seem to be an Oriental smash, thanks to our formula of a slap, a tickle and a few good giggles.”

Harris found other things besides Lost In Space to talk about in interviews. Here’s an example from a syndicated column of November 14, 1965.

He’s Still Stagestruck
By HAROLD STERN
HOLLYWOOD – There’s only one thing wrong with Jonathan Harris’s performance as the evil Dr. Zachary Smith on the CBS-TV “Lost in Space” series. He’s so charming, I refuse to accept him as a villain.
In real life, he isn’t even close to the wonderful characterization of Mr. Philips he contributed to the late, lamented “Bill Dana Show.”
His energy and effervescence are almost beyond belief. He is a quicksilver conversationalist and one just doesn’t interrupt.
“I’m stagestruck,” he said as we began to make out each other’s faces in the stygian gloom enveloping the “festive” Hollywood tavern where we met. “I love the word actor. I still get nervous. Isn’t that wonderful! It’s standing in the wings to go on on opening night with a death wish and then going on and giving the best performance of your life. I still get that feeling, even in TV.
“And you go out and do it, and if you feel it isn’t right or it isn’t working, you blow it deliberately and force them to shoot it over.
“Being an unemployed actor is disaster! Going to work every day is kicks. You learn something vital from each show. That’s kicks for an old dog like me. And you can watch other actors and learn things not to do.
“I never had any formal training. I learned by watching. I learned a tremendous amount from watching Paul Muni in ‘A Flag Is Born.’
“I’ve done so many of those shows where you read the script and you say ‘Oh, they’re kidding!’ But they’re not. And if you do the show you must do your best. And for all that money, come on, you know you’ll do your usual first-class job.
“It’s your responsibility to your audience and to those important to you. Always do your best. I learned that in the theatre. It’s a question of pride in what you do. If you don’t have it, you can’t act. Never apologize for what you do or for the script. Just do it well.

“On the set I'm referred to as ‘Himself.’ It really swings when I’m there. Our producer Irwin Allen is called ‘The Emperor,’ the great Emperor Irwin, The First. His energy is frightening, all the more so new that he knows he has a huge hit because of me. He’s so inspired, he gets 28 hours of work into every day. “I haven’t given up the theater. I know I’ll do another play. But the theater isn't what it used to be. However that shouldn’t stop my triumphal return, the return of ‘What’s-his-name?’
“Come to think of it, television isn’t what it used to be. I've been in it since the first live broadcasts from the old Dumont network in the ‘40s. I always thought television was destined to be a major force for good. And who’s to say it isn’t.
“Every once in a while there’s a White Paper or a drama with something to say or a documentary or Julia Child. How I love her! I’ve stolen all recipes. “I’m a demon cook, you know. I love to cook on the run doing four other things at the same time. It’s great fun and interesting and I’m daring. Male cooks are daring, you know. I’ll throw ginger into the most unlikely dishes.
“But, I’m an opera nut, if I had my druthers. I think I’d rather be a tenor than anything else. Opera is very important to me and I’m always the tenor unless the bass is Cesare Siepi and then I’m the bass.
“There’s nothing I like better than cooking to opera music.”

As the robot might have remarked: “Warning! Warning! My sensors detect increasing silliness.” He wouldn’t have been a “bubble-headed booby” if he had. Toward the end, one episode of Lost in Space revolved around human vegetables or some such nonsense. Like Batman, the show lasted three seasons before being killed by camp. But both shows are still fondly remembered by people who watched them over 50 years ago. And probably best remembered from Lost in Space is the preening, cowardly braggart Dr. Smith, played deliciously by Jonathan Harris.