[Deathwatch] Jonathan Harris, 'Lost in Space' villain, 87

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

'Lost in Space' villain Jonathan Harris dies at 87
Monday, November 4, 2002 Posted: 10:42 PM EST (0342 GMT)

http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/11/04/harris.obit.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Jonathan Harris, the flamboyantly fussy
actor who portrayed the dastardly, cowardly antagonist Dr. Zachary
Smith on the 1960's sci-fi show "Lost in Space," has died. He was 87. 

Harris died Sunday from a blood clot in his heart while receiving
therapy at an Encino-area hospital for a chronic back problem, family
spokesman Kevin J. Burns said Monday. 

Born Jonathan Charasuchin in the Bronx to Russian-Jewish immigrant
parents, Harris adopted the stage persona of a classically trained
British actor with his grandiloquent accent, crisp enunciation and
professorial manner. 

When people would ask him if he was from England, Harris would confess:
"'Oh no, my dear, just affected,"' said Burns, a longtime friend and
director of the 1998 documentary "Lost in Space Forever." 

Harris also worked with Pixar Animation Studios in recent years,
supplying the voice of Manny the preying-mantis magician in "A Bug's
Life" and the elderly doll repairman in "Toy Story 2." 

"Lost in Space," which ran on CBS from 1965 to 1968, was a sci-fi
takeoff on the "Swiss Family Robinson" story in which the castaway clan
was trapped amid the uncharted fathoms of space instead of on a
deserted island. 

Harris' character, Dr. Smith, was a saboteur who caused the Robinson
family's ship, Jupiter II, to fly off course -- but he also found
himself trapped with them in the craft. 



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