Jonathan Harris

Jonathan Harris

Jonathan Harris, c. 1967
Born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin
(1914-11-06)November 6, 1914
The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Died November 3, 2002(2002-11-03) (aged 87)
Encino, California, U.S.
Cause of death Cardiovascular disease
Resting place Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles
Occupation Actor
Years active 1938–2002
Spouse(s) Gertrude Bregman (m. 1938; his death 2002)
Children Richard (born 1942)

Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin; November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002) was an American character actor. Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the television version of The Third Man and the prissy villain Dr. Zachary Smith of the 1960s science fiction series Lost in Space. Near the end of his career, he provided voices for the animated features A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2.[1]

Early life

The second of three children, Harris was born to a poor family on November 6, 1914, in the Bronx, New York City. His parents were Sam and Jennie Charasuchin, Russian Jewish immigrants who eked out a living in Manhattan's garment district.[2] His family resided in a six-tenant apartment complex. To raise money, his mother took in boarders, some of whom were given Jonathan's bed, forcing Jonathan to sleep on dining room chairs. From the age of 12, he worked as a pharmacy clerk.

While there was little money for luxuries, Jonathan's father took efforts to expand his son's cultural horizons. This included trips to the Yiddish Theatre, where he was encouraged by his father to listen to opera. Young Jonathan was enthralled. He discarded his Bronx accent and began to cultivate more sophisticated English tones. Although he could seldom afford tickets to them, Broadway plays were also an interest. Before graduating in 1931, at age 16, from James Monroe High School, he had also developed interests in archaeology, Latin, romantic poetry and Shakespeare. He had difficulty fitting in with his peers, who included classmate Estelle Reiner, mother of future actor/director Rob Reiner, with the exception of his girlfriend, Gertrude Bregman, whom he subsequently married. In 1932, he legally changed his name from "Charasuchin" to "Harris", apparently without informing his parents. That same year, Harris's work at the pharmacy led him to attend nearby Fordham University where he majored in pharmacology. He graduated from Fordham in 1936 and, for a time, worked in various drugstores.

Career

Stage

Acting was Harris's first love. At age 24, he prepared a fake résumé and tried out for a repertory company at the Millpond Playhouse in Long Island, New York and appeared in several of this troupe's plays, prior to landing a spot in The Red Company. In 1942, Jonathan won the leading role of a Polish officer in the Broadway play The Heart of a City. Adopting a Polish accent, he advised the producers that his parents were originally from Poland. In 1946, he starred in A Flag Is Born, opposite Quentin Reynolds and Marlon Brando.

Television

Harris was a popular character actor for 30 years on television, making his first guest appearance on an episode of The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre in 1949. The role led to other roles in such series as: The Web, Lights Out, Goodyear Television Playhouse, Sanford and Son, 2 episodes of Hallmark Hall of Fame, Armstrong Circle Theatre, 3 episodes of Studio One, Telephone Time, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Climax!, The Outlaws, The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, The Rogues, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, 2 episodes of Bewitched, among many others.

Harris returned to television, where he landed a co-starring role opposite Michael Rennie in The Third Man, from 1959-65. He played "Bradford Webster", an eccentric, cowardly assistant. Half the episodes were shot in London, England; the rest were filmed in Hollywood. Harris's teenaged son would visit the set at this time, and Harris did whatever he could to bridge the gap between father and son and tried to make up for lost time.

From 1963-65, Harris co-starred in the sitcom The Bill Dana Show. He played Mr. Phillips, the pompous manager of a posh hotel who is constantly at odds with his bumbling Bolivian bellhop, the Bill Dana character, José Jiménez. This formula presaged the popular John Cleese hotel comedy, Fawlty Towers.

Don Adams rounded out the cast as an inept house detective—his character, dialog, and other comedy bits would soon carry over into his Maxwell Smart role on Get Smart. In similar fashion, several of Harris's one-liners from the series: such as "Oh, the pain!", along with many character mannerisms; became part of the Dr. Zachary Smith character on Lost in Space. In an apparent homage to his earlier role, Harris played a similarly pompous diplomat on Get Smart in 1970. His female assistant is named Zachary. He also guest-starred on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir. His last series guest-starring role was on an episode of Fantasy Island. He also starred as the character Fagan in the first episode of the science fiction series Ark II.

Dr. Zachary Smith in Lost in Space

Harris as Doctor Smith, 1967

Harris was cast over two other actors for the role of the evil and conniving double agent, Dr. Zachary Smith on Lost in Space for CBS. The character did not appear in the original 1965 pilot episode, nor did The Robot. The series was already in production when he joined the cast and starring/co-starring billing had already been contractually assigned. So Harris successfully negotiated to receive "Special Guest Star" billing on every episode. Also starring on the series were several established and popular actors including: Guy Williams as Professor John Robinson; June Lockhart, as John's wife, Dr. Maureen Robinson; Mark Goddard, as the Jupiter 2's pilot, Judy Robinson's mutual attraction and Dr. Smith's hot-blooded adversary, Major Don West; Angela Cartwright--already an accomplished child actress as a co-star on The Danny Thomas Show and as Brigitta von Trapp in the beloved 1965 Academy Award-winning Best Picture, The Sound of Music--as the Robinsons' middle child, Penny Robinson; and the addition of two new cast members: Marta Kristen, as their oldest child, Judy Robinson; and another accomplished child actor, Billy Mumy, as their youngest child and loyal friend to Dr. Smith, Will Robinson.

A strong bond developed between Harris, Mumy, and some of the rest of the cast during the series' three-year tenure. From its debut, it was successful, until midway through the first season, it had stiff competition from another newcomer, the midseason 1966 replacement series Batman, which dominated TV ratings. The series continued the tradition of such successful 1960s sci-fi series such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Midway through the first season, due to Harris's popularity on the show, he began to rewrite his dialogue. Allen approved his changes and gave him carte blanche as a writer.

Harris subsequently stole the show, mainly via a seemingly never-ended series of alliterative insults directed toward The Robot, which soon worked their way into popular culture (among his most well-known were spitefully calling The Robot a "bubble-headed booby" and a "clamoring clod"). When the series was renewed for its third and final season, it remained focused on Harris' character, Dr. Smith. While the series was still solidly placed in the middle of the ratings pack, the writers appeared to run out of fresh ideas, and the show was unexpectedly cancelled in 1968 after 83 episodes, despite loud protests from its fans.

One of Harris' co-stars, Mark Goddard, said of the series' eventual shift toward Harris' character, "I guess it was because they felt that the people wanted to see more of The Robot and Jonathan. Originally, when it was more science fiction, Irwin can really do those things so beautifully. So he really took those away from himself when he wanted to deal with The Robot and Jonathan playing games, cooking soufflés, or whatever else."[3] Goddard was also asked if he had gotten along well with other castmates, other than Harris and Mumy:

"No. There was a lot of tension on the set for the three years it was filmed. There was always a lot of tension, because the shows started going more toward The Robot and Smith. There were hard feelings from especially Guy and June, and also myself, but not as heavy as them, because they were originally sold as being the stars of the show when it began. It ended up that Harris became the star of the show." The last thing that he said was: "I was friendly with everyone, pretty much. I think there was a period for a couple of months when I was angry at Jonathan Harris, for the same reasons, feeling that he was getting too many shows thrown his way. But we talk today. I see him, and there's no animosity between us. But I also had my disagreements with Guy Williams. When they started taking shows away from Guy, giving more to Jonathan, then Guy would come in and demand whatever I had in the show: any confrontations with Smith, or to save the kid, or anything. He'd end up doing all of that and I was the one that got squeezed out; I was doing almost nothing. There was one time where I went in to do a bit and had learned my lines, and was all ready to do my scene, when Guy started reading my lines. I said, 'What's going on?' and he said, 'This is my scene now.' They had given the lines to him. And that's where I got angry and walked off."

After a reunion of the entire surviving cast in December 1990, Goddard continued to stay in touch with Harris until his friend's death, late in 2002.

Bill Mumy said about Harris' guest role in his first episode, "It was actually implied that this villainous character that sabotaged the mission and ended up with us was going to be killed off after a while." Mumy added, "Jonathan played him as written, which was this really dark, straight-ahead villain." Mumy also said of Harris' work on Space, "And we'd start working on a scene together, and he'd have a line, and then in the script I'd have my reply, and he'd say, 'No, no, no, dear boy. No, no, no. Before you say that, The Robot will say this, this, this, this, this, this, and this, and then, you'll deliver your line.'" Bill also said of Harris' portrayal, "He truly, truly singlehandedly created the character of Dr. Zachary Smith that we know — this man, we love-to-hate, coward who would cower behind the little boy, 'Oh, the pain! Save me, William!' That's all him!" About the series' cancellation, Mumy said, "I don't know what happened. All I know is that we were all told we're coming back. Then, you know we got a call that we weren't."

The death of Harris' father in 1977 drew Harris and Mumy closer. The two kept in touch for almost 35 years until Harris' death. On June 14, 1995, Mumy and the rest of the crew paid tribute to series' creator, Irwin Allen, who died late in 1991. In 1996, Mumy was reunited with Harris alongside Leonard Nimoy, of Star Trek fame, at a Disney World convention. It was also reported in 1997 that Mumy, Harris, and the rest of the surviving cast appeared on the inside cover of TV Guide to promote the new movie, while the Sci-Fi Channel would feature a Lost in Space marathon. In the actual 1965 television premiere of Lost in Space, the blast-off of the Jupiter 2 is set in the future on October 16, 1997. The Sci-Fi Channel began the Lost in Space marathon in real-time 32 years later on October 16, 1997.

Typecasting

Harris as Mr. Piper in the Land of the Giants episode "Pay the Piper," 1970

Although he is considered something of a cult icon for this role, Harris became typecast as the fey, somewhat effeminate villain. Allen cast him as a villainous "Pied Piper" in an episode of Land of the Giants. Approached by Irwin Allen, a second time, to star in a children's series, Jumbalina and the Teeners, Harris turned it down. In 1970, Harris played the role of another not-so-likeable villain, when he guest starred as the Bulmanian Ambassador in the Get Smart episode, "How Green Was My Valet." Harris was also a co-star, alongside Charles Nelson Reilly, in the series Uncle Croc's Block, in which Harris and Reilly portrayed malcontents producing a children's television show. Harris played the director and Reilly the titular host, Uncle Croc. A more favorable guest role of Harris's was his portrayal of Charles Dickens in a 1963 episode of Bonanza. He also appeared in two 1961 episodes of The Twilight Zone, one of which, being "The Silence", and in a character reversal, as a hero, in which he ended up defending a young man challenged to be silent for a whole year at a prestigious gentleman's club. In a 1971 episode of Night Gallery, entitled "Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay", Harris played Professor Nicholas Porteus. Porteus's knowledge of witches and how to destroy them, led to his death; but helped resolve the episode's conflict.

Voiceover and guest starring roles

Harris spent most of the remainder of his career as a voice actor, heard in television commercials as well as cartoons such as Channel Umptee-3, The Banana Splits, My Favorite Martians, Rainbow Brite, Darkwing Duck, Happily Ever After, Problem Child, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light (giving a master class in sycophancy as lackey to the main villain), Freakazoid! (reprising the Smith character and dialogue under the name "Professor Jones,") 1994 Spider-Man series, A Bug's Life, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Toy Story 2. He also had several cameo and guest appearances, including Zorro, Bewitched, Fantasy Island, Sanford and Son, Ark II and Uncle Croc's Block. Harris also provided the voiceover of the Cylon character 'Lucifer' on the original ABC-TV version of Battlestar Galactica. He also did voiceover work in an episode of the animated Superman series.

Harris taught drama and gave voice lessons to Chuck Norris and was credited for this by Norris in Good Guys Wear Black.[4]

He starred in the Saturday morning children's series Space Academy and Uncle Croc's Block in the mid-1970s, and was a well-known TV spokesman for the International House of Pancakes. In 2009, his final performance was finally released. He had done a recording session in 2001 for a short animated film titled The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas in which he played the narrator and "The Bolt." He died about a year after his recording session, long before the independent film was completed. The film also featured voiceover work by fellow Lost in Space castmates Bill Mumy, Angela Cartwright, and Marta Kristen. Their roles were added to the film after his death as a small tribute, with the film, dedicated to his memory.

Later career

In 1990, Harris reunited with the cast of Lost in Space to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the series' debut, an event attended by more than 30,000 fans. In 1995, Harris (alongside June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Bill Mumy and Angela Cartwright) also appeared in The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen, a television tribute to Irwin Allen, who had died four years prior.

Harris reprised his role as Dr. Smith in the one-hour television special Lost in Space Forever in 1998. However, unlike his co-stars in the original series (June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright), he refused to make a cameo appearance in the motion picture version of Lost in Space earlier that year. He announced, "I've never played a bit part in my life and I'm not going to start now!" (Bill Mumy also did not appear in the feature film.) Gary Oldman played the role of Dr. Smith in the film but as a more genuinely menacing and less likeable character than Harris's on television. An episode of The Simpsons has a cameo of Dr. Smith along with The Robot; multiple episodes of Freakazoid had a character of a cowardly "Professor Jones"; in both "Professor Jones" utters his catchphrase "Oh, the pain!" In case there was any question about the parody, numerous characters would ask him, "Weren't you on a TV show with a robot?".

During the months leading up to the film's release, the Sci-Fi Channel broadcast Lost in Space marathons in many markets, in which each of the actors were interviewed. On April 9, 1998, Harris appeared as a guest on the talk show Biography, on which Harris fondly reminisced about his Lost In Space days, admitting he would stay up nights thinking of new insults for The Robot ("bellicose bumpkin," "bubble-headed booby") because he enjoyed the interaction so much. Host Conan O'Brien brought one of his characters, Pimp-Bot 5000 (a "robot pimp"), onto the set, and Harris went into character as Dr. Smith and proceeded to insult Pimp-Bot. Shying away from his usual dry, sarcastic, and often self-deprecating style, Conan confessed to Harris that he brought him on the show just to have him insult Pimp-Bot, and that the moment made his day.

Harris's last work was released posthumously in 2009. Prior to his death, he recorded voice work for the animated theatrical short The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas. Wanting to pay tribute to Harris, writer/director John Wardlaw wrote an additional scene for the film and asked Lost In Space co-stars Bill Mumy, Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright to contribute their voices to the film. The three actors reunited in the recording studio on June 14, 2006. "This was the first time they had all been together in something unrelated to Lost in Space and it was a blast. They listened to what Harris had recorded and there were laughs and some tears," Wardlaw stated.[5]

Hobbies

Throughout his life, Harris had a number of hobbies: gourmet cooking, watching movies, reading, traveling, painting, magic, playing piano (he played a piano teacher in a 1968 episode of Bewitched), listening to opera, spending time with children, gardening and knitting. He also did some dancing in his spare time.

Personal life and death

Harris was married to his childhood sweetheart, Gertrude Bregman, from 1938 until his death in 2002. She died of natural causes, at age 93, on August 28, 2007. They had one child, Richard, born 1942.[6]

Harris's father, Sam Charasuchin, was struck by a car while crossing the street, in New York City, in 1977. He was 93 years old at the time of his death.

In late 2002, Harris and the rest of the surviving cast of the television series were preparing for an NBC two-hour movie entitled Lost in Space: The Journey Home.[7] However, two months before the movie was set to film, he was taken to the hospital with what he thought was a back problem. But on November 3, 2002, just one day before he was scheduled to return home, Harris died of a blood clot to the heart. He was 87 years old, just 3 days shy of his 88th birthday.[8]

He is interred in Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, in Westwood Village, in Los Angeles. His funeral eulogists included long time friends: director Arthur Hiller; former Twentieth Century Fox television executive and producer Kevin Burns; and fellow Lost in Space castmate Bill Mumy.

Harris as "Zeno" in the Lost in Space episode "West of Mars," 1966

Quotes

References

  1. ↑ Jonathan Harris on IMDb
  2. ↑ Aaker, Everett. "Jonathan Harris," p.252 (at Google Books) of Encyclopedia of early television crime fighters, McFarland, 2006.
  3. ↑ Goddard, Mark (2008). To Space and Back: A Memoir. New York: Universe, Inc.
  4. ↑ Good Guys Wear Black Cast, Internet Movie Database
  5. ↑ Herrera, Margaux (July 1, 2011). "The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas Director Talks Crude Humor and Working with the Late Jonathan Harris". Miami New Times. Retrieved January 23, 2016.
  6. ↑ Jonathan Harris Trivia at the Internet Movie Database
  7. ↑ Lost In Space: The Journey Home archived from the original on April 8, 2005
  8. ↑ Eric Pace (2002-11-05). "Jonathan Harris, 87, Dr. Smith In 60's TV Series 'Lost in Space'". The New York Times. Jonathan Harris, a versatile character actor perhaps best known for his role as the villainous Dr. Smith in the science-fiction fantasy series Lost in Space on CBS television, died on Sunday in Los Angeles. He was 87 and lived in the Encino section of Los Angeles. He had been hospitalized for a back injury, but died of a blood clot, a spokesman for the family said.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Jonathan Harris Trivia & Quotes at TV.com
  10. ↑ Guest Quotes at brainyquote.com
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