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| Portrays: | Lucifer | ||||
| Date of Birth: | November 06, 1914 | ||||
| Date of Death: | November 03, 2002 | ||||
| Age at Death: | 87 | ||||
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Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Charasuchin on November 6, 1914, died November 3, 2002) was an American actor.
Harris is known by Original Series enthusiasts as the actor who provided the voice of Lucifer, the IL-series Cylon. He may be best known as the villainous Dr. Zachary Smith in the TV series Lost in Space.
Born in the Bronx, New York, the son of Jewish emigrés from Russia, Harris first worked in a pharmacy, and later earned a pharmacology degree at Fordham University. Changing careers to pursue acting, he changed his name and learned to speak without a strong Bronx accent. In 1938, he married Gertrude Bergman.
Harris first appeared on Broadway with Heart of a City in 1942, and went on to perform over 100 plays. His first appearance on television was in 1948, which was then a live media, and he went on to make his film debut in Botany Bay in 1953.
Harris returned to TV, appearing in one of his most recognizable roles on The Third Man as Harry Lime's manservant.
In 1965, he first appeared in Lost in Space in the role of Dr. Zachary Smith. Although Smith was originally cast as a one-shot character, after a stellar introductory appearance, he was made a recurring member of the cast. Smith's relationship with the show's robot is particularly memorable as are his endless putdowns of the machine with such phrases as "You bubble-headed booby!" That Harris would later portray a robot in Battlestar Galactica is an obvious irony.
Harris reprised his role as Dr. Smith in the one-hour TV special Lost in Space Forever in 1998. However, unlike his costars in the original show, he declined to make a cameo appearance in the motion picture version of Lost in Space that was released later that year.
Although occasionally called upon for cameos and guest shots as villains (usually of the Dr. Smith type) Harris spent most of the remainder of his career as a voice actor, appearing in TV commercials as well as animated television and features.
Harris passed away on November 3, 2002 at the age of 87, in Encino, California. He is survived by his wife, Gertrude, and their son, Richard.
Notes
- Harris is the only Lost in Space cast member to appear in the Original Series. However, Anne Lockhart, daughter of Harris' Lost in Space co-star June Lockhart, later came to join the series as Lieutenant Sheba.
External links
- Jonathan article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
- Jonathan Harris - Master of Entertainment fan site
- L.A. Times Obituary archived on Promised Planet
