Jonathan Harris

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Jonathan Harris
Harris, c. 1967
Born
Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin

(1914-11-06)November 6, 1914
New York, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 3, 2002(2002-11-03) (aged 87)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting placeWestwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
OccupationActor
Years active1938–2002
Spouse
Gertrude Bregman
(m. 1938)
Children1

Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin; November 6, 1914 – November 3, 2002) was an American character actor whose career included more than 500 television and film appearances, as well as voiceovers.[1] Two of his best-known roles were as the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the television version of The Third Man and the fussy villain Dr. Zachary Smith of the 1960s science-fiction series Lost in Space.[2] Near the end of his career, he provided voices for the animated features A Bug's Life and Toy Story 2.[3]

Early life[edit]

The second of three children, Harris was born on November 6, 1914, in the Bronx, New York City, to Sam and Jennie Charasuchin, Russian-Jewish immigrants. His father worked in Manhattan's Garment District.[4] The family lived in a six-story tenement, and his mother often took in boarders to make ends meet, giving them Jonathan's room and bed and relegating him to sleep on the dining room chairs. By age 12 he was working in a pharmacy as a stockboy.

While there was little money for luxuries, Jonathan's father made an effort to expand his son's cultural horizons with occasional trips to see Yiddish Theatre and by listening to opera on the dining room radio. Young Jonathan was enthralled. Although he could seldom afford tickets to them, Broadway plays were also an early interest. He detested his Bronx accent and by high school cultivated an English one in its place, watching British B-movies at the arts theatre. He also developed interests in archaeology, Latin, romantic poetry and Shakespeare.[1]

In 1931, at age 16, he graduated from James Monroe High School.[citation needed]

He legally changed his name from "Charasuchin" to "Harris" before entering college after a year-long standoff with his father, who disagreed with the change.[5] Harris earned a degree in pharmacology from Fordham University, from which he graduated in 1936.[6] For a time he worked in various drugstores before marrying in 1938.[citation needed]

Career[edit]

Stage[edit]

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 on Long Island, New York and appeared in several of this troupe's plays,[6] prior to landing a spot in the company. In 1942, Harris 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.[citation needed] In 1946, he starred in A Flag Is Born, opposite Quentin Reynolds and Marlon Brando.

Early television career[edit]

Harris was a popular character actor for 30 years on television, making his first guest appearance on the episode "His Name Is Jason" on The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre in 1949.[7] The role led to other roles in such series as: The Web, Lights Out, Goodyear Television Playhouse, two episodes of Hallmark Hall of Fame, Armstrong Circle Theatre, three episodes of Studio One, Telephone Time, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Climax!, Outlaws, The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, The Rogues, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, and Zorro, among many others.

Harris returned to television, where he landed a co-starring role opposite Michael Rennie in The Third Man, from 1959 to 1965. 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.[citation needed]

Harris appeared in two 1961 episodes of The Twilight Zone, including a heroic role in "The Silence", in which he ended up defending a young man challenged to be silent for a whole year at a prestigious gentleman's club. Harris also portrayed Charles Dickens in a 1963 episode of Bonanza.

From 1963 to 1965, 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. (A similar formula was later used in John Cleese's British hotel comedy Fawlty Towers.) Don Adams rounded out the cast as an inept house detective, a character whose distinctive mannerisms and catchphrases would soon carry over into his Maxwell Smart role on Get Smart. In similar fashion, several of Harris's catch phrases from the series, such as "Oh, the pain!", along with the character's mannerisms and delivery, 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 was named Zachary. Harris also guest-starred on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir.

Dr. Zachary Smith in Lost in Space[edit]

Harris as Doctor Smith, 1967

Harris was cast over two other actors for the role of Dr. Zachary Smith, the evil and conniving enemy agent on Lost in Space. The character did not appear in the original 1965 pilot episode for CBS, nor did The Robot. The series was already in production when Harris joined the cast, and starring/co-starring billing had already been contractually assigned. Harris successfully negotiated to receive "Special Guest Star" billing on every episode.

Bill Mumy said about Harris' 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."

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

The series was successful upon its debut and, midway through the first season, Harris began to rewrite his own dialogue to add more comedy because he felt that his strength was in portraying a comic villain. Due to Harris's popularity on the show, Irwin Allen approved his changes and gave him carte blanche as a writer. Harris subsequently stole the show, mainly via a seemingly never-ending series of alliterative insults directed toward The Robot, which soon worked their way into popular culture. Dr. Smith's best-known tropes included spitefully calling The Robot epithets such as "bubble-headed booby" and "clamoring clod". According to Bill Mumy, Harris moved quickly to develop the character: "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.'" Mumy 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!"

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 protests from its fans.

Harris was succeeded in the role of Dr. Smith by Gary Oldman in the 1998 film version, who played the role as a more genuinely menacing and less likeable character than Harris's on television. For the 2018 reboot of Lost in Space as a Netflix original series, Parker Posey was cast as Dr. Zachary Smith, a female psychopath using a stolen identity to assume the role of the ship's psychologist.[8]

Later career[edit]

In the mid-1970s, Harris starred in live-action roles in two Saturday morning children's series, Space Academy and Uncle Croc's Block, and was a well-known TV spokesman for the International House of Pancakes. He made several cameo and guest appearances during this period, including episodes of Bewitched and Sanford and Son.

In a 1971 episode of Night Gallery, titled "Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay", Harris played Professor Nicholas Porteus, an expert on witchcraft.[9]

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.

Harris taught drama, and was Chuck Norris's vocal coach for many years. Norris credited Harris for teaching him "how to speak" by sticking his fingers in Norris's mouth, adding that Harris was the only person in the world he would allow to do that.[10]

Typecasting as a villain[edit]

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

Although he was considered something of a cult icon for the role of Dr. Smith, Harris became typecast as a fey and sometimes campy villain. For example, Irwin Allen cast Harris as a villainous "Pied Piper" in an episode of Land of the Giants. Approached by 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, 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. In the 1987 cartoon Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light, he played lackey and sycophant Mortdred to the main villain Darkstorm.

Harris also provided the voice of the Cylon character Lucifer, an antagonist on the original 1978 ABC version of Battlestar Galactica.

Voice roles[edit]

Harris spent much of his later career working as a voice actor, and during it he was heard on television commercials as well as on cartoons such as Channel Umptee-3, The Banana Splits, My Favorite Martian, Rainbow Brite, Darkwing Duck, Happily Ever After, Problem Child, Spider-Man, A Bug's Life, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Toy Story 2. He also did voiceover work in an episode of the animated Superman series.

In multiple episodes of the 1995–1997 cartoon series Freakazoid!, Harris reprised the cowardly Smith character and dialogue under the name "Professor Jones," uttering Smith's catchphrase "Oh, the pain!" Emphasizing the target of the parody, numerous characters would ask him, "Weren't you on a TV show with a robot?"

In 2001, a year prior to his death, he recorded voice work for the animated theatrical short The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas. The film, Harris's last work, was released posthumously in 2009.[11]

Lost in Space reunion appearances[edit]

In 1990, Harris reunited with the cast of Lost in Space in a filmed celebration of the 25th anniversary of the series' debut, at an event attended by more than 30,000 fans.[citation needed] Harris made a number of other convention appearances with other cast members of Lost in Space, including a 1996 appearance at Disney World.

On June 14, 1995, Harris and other cast members appeared in The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen, a television tribute to Irwin Allen, the creator of Lost in Space, who had died in 1991.

Harris refused to make a cameo appearance in the 1998 motion picture version of Lost in Space, unlike many of his co-stars in the original series. He announced, "I've never played a bit part in my life and I'm not going to start now!" However, he did make promotional appearances for the film:

  • Harris reprised his role as Dr. Smith in the one-hour television special Lost in Space Forever,[citation needed] and Harris and the rest of the surviving television cast appeared on the inside cover of an issue of TV Guide.
  • In April 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 alliterative insults for The Robot ("bellicose bumpkin," "bubble-headed booby") because he enjoyed the interaction so much.
  • For an appearance by Harris, talk show host Conan O'Brien brought one of his characters, Pimp-Bot 5000 (a "robot pimp"; half 1950s’ robot, half 1970s’ street pimp), onto the set, and Harris went into character as Dr. Smith and proceeded to insult Pimp-Bot.[12] 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.

In late 2002, Harris and the rest of the surviving cast of the television series were preparing to film an NBC two-hour film titled Lost in Space: The Journey Home; however, the project was unable to proceed after Harris' death.[13][14]

Personal life[edit]

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

Death and posthumous tributes[edit]

Two months before the reunion TV film Lost in Space: The Journey Home was set to film, Harris was taken to the hospital with what he thought was a back problem. But on November 3, 2002, he was found dead from a blood clot to the heart, three days before his 88th birthday.[6]

As a tribute to Harris, writer/director John Wardlaw wrote an additional scene for the film The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas, which included Harris's final performance before his death. Wardlaw asked Lost in Space co-stars Bill Mumy, Angela Cartwright, and Marta Kristen 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.[11]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1952 Botany Bay Tom Oakley
1959 The Big Fisherman Lysias
1959 Catch Me If You Can Lindström
1985 Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer Count Blogg Voice[15]
1987 Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night Grumblebee Voice[15]
1989 Happily Ever After Sunflower Voice[15]
1998 The 4th of July Parade Grandpa Steve
1998 A Bug's Life Manny Voice[15]
1999 Toy Story 2 Geri the Cleaner Voice[15]
2001 Hubert's Brain The Professor Short
Voice
2009 The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas The Bolt / Narrator Voice, short[15]
Posthumous release, final film role

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1949 The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre Episode: "His Name Is Jason"
1959–1965 The Third Man Bradford Webster 72 episodes
1959 Zorro Don Carlos 3 episodes
1961 Outlaws Sam Twyfford Episode: "Outrage at Pawnee Band"
Twilight Zone The Doctor, George Alfred 2 episodes
1963 The Lloyd Bridges Show Walter W. Pike Episode: "The Tyrees of Capitol Hill"
1963–1965 The Bill Dana Show Mr. Phillips, Mr. Harris, King Edward 40 episodes
1963 Bonanza Charles Dickens Episode: "A Passion for Justice"
1968 Bewitched Johann Sebastian Monroe Episode: "Samantha on the Keyboard"
Sir Leslie Episode: “Paul Revere Rides Again”
1965–1968 Lost in Space Dr. Zachary Smith, Zeno, Daddy Smith 83 episodes
1969 Lancer Padraic McGloin Episode: "The Black McGloins"
1970 Land of the Giants The Piper Episode: "Pay the Piper"
1970 Get Smart The Ambassador Episode: "How Green Was My Valet"
1976 Ark II Fagon Episode: "The Flies"
1976 Monster Squad The Astrologer Episode: "The Astrologer"
1977 Space Academy Commander Isaac Gampu 15 episodes
1978–1979 Battlestar Galactica Lucifer Voice, 9 episodes (uncredited)
1984 Diff'rent Strokes Frankenstein's Creature Voice, episode: "Hooray for Hollywood Part 1" (uncredited)
1985 Challenge of the GoBots Professor Janus Voice, episode: "Terror in Atlantis"
1986 Rainbow Brite Count Blogg, additional voices Voice, 3 episodes
1986-1987 Foofur Lance Lyons Voice, 26 episodes
1987 Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light Mortdredd, Wizasquizar, Dark Bishop Voice, 13 episodes
1988 BraveStarr Professor Moriarty Voice, episode: "Sherlock Holmes in the 23rd Century"
1989–1990 Paddington Bear Additional voices Voice, 2 episodes
1991 Darkwing Duck Phineas Sharp Voice, episode: "In Like Blunt"
1996 The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper Omar Voice, episode: "Poil Jammed/The Who That I Am/A Picture Says a Thousand Words"
1996 Mighty Ducks Lord Gargan Voice, episode: "The Final Face Off"
1996–1997 Freakazoid! Professor Jones Voice, 6 episodes[15]
1996 The Mask The Devil / Bud / Bub Voice, 2 episodes
1996 Quack Pack Professor Henry Villanova Voice, episode: "Transmission Impossible"
1997 Superman: The Animated Series Julian Frey Voice, episode: "Target"[15]
1997 Extreme Ghostbusters The Salesman Voice, episode: "Be Careful What You Wish For"
1997 Spider-Man Miles Warren Voice, episode: "The Return of Hydro-Man"[15]
1997 Waynehead Mr. Hollandopolis Voice, episode: "To Be Cool or Not to Be"[15]
1997 Channel Umptee-3 Stickley Rickets Voice, 13 episodes
1997 The Angry Beavers Julius Caesar Voice, episode: "Friends, Romans, Beavers!"
1999 The New Woody Woodpecker Show Maxie the Polar Bear Voice, episode: "Meany Side of the Street/Chilly to Go/Ant Rant"
2000 Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Era Voice, 2 episodes[15]

Video games[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1998 A Bug's Life Manny Voice[15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b A&E (2002). Jonathan Harris on Biography. YouTube. Event occurs at 2:08. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2018.
  2. ^ Oliver, Myrna (November 5, 2002). "Jonathan Harris, 87; Bumbling Villain in TV's 'Lost in Space'". Los Angeles Times.
  3. ^ Reiher, Andrea (April 21, 2018). "Before You Dive Into the Lost in Space Reboot, Check Out the Original Cast". PopSugar.
  4. ^ Aaker, Everett (2006). "Jonathan Harris". Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters: All Regular Cast Members in American Crime and Mystery Series, 1948–1959. McFarland. p. 252. ISBN 9780786424764.
  5. ^ Abraham, Jeff (June 14, 2001). Jonathan Harris, Actor. Television Academy Foundation – The Interviews. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d Pace, Eric (November 5, 2002). "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...
  7. ^ Gaughan, Gavin (December 17, 2002). "Jonathan Harris". The Guardian. England, London. p. 16. Retrieved April 23, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Anderson, John (April 12, 2018). "Lost in Space Review: Re-entering the TV Atmosphere". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on April 17, 2018.
  9. ^ Juhl, David (December 6, 2013). "Night Gallery story 'Since Aunt Ada Came to Stay' reviewed here". Written by David Juhl. Archived from the original on June 18, 2018.
  10. ^ AMC (May 2008). "Eight True Facts About Chuck Norris". AMC Network Entertainment. Archived from the original on August 22, 2018.
  11. ^ a b 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.
  12. ^ Michael Duecker (March 24, 2018), Jonathan Harris appears on Conan O'Brien 1998, archived from the original on December 21, 2021, retrieved April 18, 2019
  13. ^ "Lost in Space: The Journey Home – The TV Movie". Jupiter 2. 2003. Archived from the original on August 27, 2003.
  14. ^ Kennedy, Paul (2005). "Lost in Space: The Journey Home". Kennedy's TV SF Guide. Archived from the original on April 8, 2005.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Jonathan Harris (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 19, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.

External links[edit]