From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris resided in a six-tenant apartment complex. To raise mon-
ey, his mother took in boarders, some of whom were giv-
en Jonathan’s bed, forcing Jonathan to sleep in the dining
room. From the age of 12, he worked as a pharmacy clerk.
While there was little money for luxuries, Jonathan’s fa-
ther 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, Broadway
plays were also an interest. Before graduation from James
Monroe High School in 1931 (at age 16), he had also be-
come interested in archeology, Latin, romantic poetry
and, inevitably, Shakespeare. He didn’t fit amongst his
peers (especially Estelle Reiner — mother of future actor/
director, Rob Reiner, who was one of his classmates) with
the exception of his girlfriend, Gertrude Bregman, whom
he subsequently married.
In 1932, aged 17, he legally changed his named from
Harris as Dr. Zachary Smith in Lost in Space. "Charasuchin" to "Harris", apparently without informing
his parents. That same year, Harris’s work at the phar-
Born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin
macy led him to attending Fordham University in New
November 6, 1914(1914-11-06)
The Bronx, New York, U.S. York, where he majored in pharmacology. He graduated
in 1936, and worked in several drugstores (chemists).
Died November 3, 2002(2002-11-03) (aged 87)
Encino, California, U.S.
Resting Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery,
Career
place Los Angeles
Stage
Occupation Actor
Acting was Harris’s first love. At 24, he prepared a fake
Years 1938–2002 résumé and tried out a repertory company at the
active
Millpond Playhouse in Long Island, New York and ap-
Spouse Gertrude Bregman (1938–2002) peared in several of this troupe’s plays, prior to landing
a spot in The Red Company. In 1942, Jonathan won the
Jonathan Harris (born Jonathan Charasuchin November
Charasuchin; leading role of a Polish officer in the Broadway play The
6, 1914 – November 3, 2002) was an American stage and Heart of a City. Adopting a Polish accent, he advised the
film character actor. Two of his best-known roles were as producers that his parents were originally from Poland.
the timid accountant Bradford Webster in the TV version In 1946, he starred in A Flag Is Born, opposite Quentin
of The Third Man, and the comic villain Dr. Zachary Smith, Reynolds and Marlon Brando.
in the 1960s sci-fi television series, Lost in Space. Near the
end of his career, he provided the voice of "Manny", a Television
praying mantis in the animated feature A Bug’s Life.[1] Harris became a popular character actor for 30 years on
television, making his first guest appearance on an
Early life episode of The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre in 1949. The part led
to other roles in such shows as: The Web, Lights Out,
The second of three children, Harris was born to a poor Goodyear Television Playhouse, Sanford and Son, 2 episodes
family in The Bronx, New York. His parents were Sam of Hallmark Hall of Fame, Armstrong Circle Theatre, 3
and Jennie Charasuchin, Russian immigrants who eked episodes of Studio One, Telephone Time, Schlitz Playhouse of
out a living in Manhattan’s garment district. His family
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jonathan Harris
Stars, Climax!, The Outlaws, The Twilight Zone, Bonanza, The series such as Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Midway
Rogues, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, among many oth- through the first season, due to Harris’ popularity on the
ers. show, he began to rewrite the dialogue. Allen approved
Harris returned to television, where he landed a co- his changes and gave him carte blanche to become a
starring role opposite Michael Rennie in The Third Man, writer. Harris stole the show, mainly via a list of allit-
from 1959-65. He played Bradford Webster, an eccentric, erative insults that soon worked their way into popular
cowardly assistant. Half the episodes were shot in Lon- speech. When the show was renewed for its third and fi-
don, England; the rest were filmed in Hollywood. Harris’ nal season, it remained focused on Harris’s character, Dr.
teenaged son would visit the set at this time, and Harris Smith. While the series was still solidly placed in the mid-
did whatever he could to bridge the gap between father dle of the ratings pack, the writers appeared to run out of
and son and tried to make up for lost time. fresh ideas, and the show was unexpectedly canceled in
From 1963-65, Harris co-starred in the sitcom The Bill 1968, after 83 episodes.
Dana Show. He played Mr. Phillips, the pompous manager One of Harris’s co-stars, Mark Goddard, said of the
of a posh hotel who is constantly at odds with his bum- show’s eventual shift toward Harris’s character, "I guess
bling Bolivian bellhop, "José Jiménez" (Bill Dana). This it was because they felt that the people wanted to see
formula presaged the popular John Cleese hotel comedy, more of the Robot and Jonathan. Originally, when it was
Fawlty Towers. more science fiction, Irwin can really do those things so
Don Adams rounded out the cast as an inept house beautifully. So he really took those away from himself
detective — his character, dialog, and other comedy bits when he wanted to deal with the Robot and Jonathan
would soon carry over into his "Maxwell Smart" role playing games, cooking souffles, or whatever else."[citation
on Get Smart. In similar fashion, several of Harris’ one- needed] Goddard was also asked if he had gotten along well
liners from the show (such as "Oh, the pain!"), along with other castmates, other than Harris & Mumy, "No.
with many character mannerisms, became part of the Dr. There was a lot of tension on the set for the three years it
Zachary Smith character on Lost in Space. In an appar- was filmed. There was always a lot of tension, because the
ent homage to his earlier role, Harris played a similarly shows started going more toward the Robot and Smith.
pompous diplomat on Get Smart in 1970. His female as- There were hard feelings from especially Guy and June,
sistant is named "Zachary". He also guest-starred on The and also myself, but not as heavy as them, because they
Ghost & Mrs. Muir. His last series guest-starring role was were originally sold as being the stars of the show when
on an episode of Fantasy Island. it began. It ended up that Harris became the star of the
show," the last thing that he said, "I was friendly with
As Doctor Zachary Smith in Lost in Space everyone, pretty much. I think there was a period for a
Harris beat out two other actors for the role of conniving, couple of months when I was angry at Jonathan Harris,
cowardly agent Dr. Zachary Smith on Lost In Space for for the same reasons, feeling that he was getting too
CBS. The character did not appear in the original 1965 pi- many shows thrown his way. But we talk today. I see
lot episode (nor did The Robot). The series was already in him, and there’s no animosity between us. But I also had
production when he joined the cast and the starring/co- my disagreements with Guy Williams. When they started
starring billings had already been contractually assigned, taking shows away from Guy, giving more to Jonathan,
so Harris received a "Special Guest Star" credit on every then Guy would come in and demand whatever I had in
episode. Also starring on the show were several popu- the show: any confrontations with Smith, or to save the
lar actors including: Guy Williams as Prof. John Robinson, kid, or anything. He’d end up doing all of that and I was
June Lockhart as John’s wife, Maureen Robinson, Mark the one that got squeezed out; I was doing almost noth-
Goddard as Dr. Smith’s long-suffering/handsome space ing. There was one time where I went in to do a bit and
adversary, Maj. Don West, and Angela Cartwright as mid- had learned my lines, and was all ready to do my scene,
dle child, Penny Robinson, including a couple unfamiliar when Guy started reading my lines. I said ’What’s going
stars such as: Marta Kristen as John’s and Maureen’s old- on?’ and he said ’This is my scene now.’ They had given
er child, Judy Robinson and Bill Mumy as John’s and Mau- the lines to him. And that’s where I got angry and walked
reen’s younger child and friend of Dr. Smith, Will Robin- off." After a reunion of the entire surviving cast on June
son. 14, 1995, Goddard continued to stay in touch with Harris
A strong bond developed between Harris, Mumy, and until his friend’s death, late in 2002.
some of the rest of the cast during the show’s three-year Bill Mumy said about Harris’ guest role that in his
tenure, and all thanks to Harris’s contribution. From its first episode, "It was actually implied that this villainous
debut, it was successful, even though midway through character that sabotaged the mission and ended up with
the first season, it had competition from another new- us, was going to be killed off after a while." Mumy added,
comer, Batman, which dominated the ratings. The show "Jonathan played him as written, which was this really
continued the tradition of such successful 1960s sci-fi dark, straight-ahead villain, who was trying to murder
women and children."[citation needed] Mumy also said of
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jonathan Harris
Harris’s work on Space, "And we’d start working on a Zorro, Bewitched, Fantasy Island, Sanford and Son and Uncle
scene together, and he’d have a line, and then in the Croc’s Block. Harris also provided the voiceover of the Cy-
script I’d have my reply, and he’d say, ’No, no, no, dear lon character "Lucifer" on the original Battlestar Galactica
boy. No, no, no. Before you say that, The Robot will say series.
this, this, this, this, this, this, and this, and then, you’ll Harris taught drama and gave voice lessons to Chuck
deliver your line.’" Bill also said of Harris’ portrayal, "He Norris where Norris credited him in Good Guys Wear
truly, truly singlehandledly created the character of Dr. Black.[2]
Zachary Smith that we know — this man, we love-to- He starred in the Saturday morning children’s series
hate, coward who would cower behind the little boy, ’Oh, Space Academy and Uncle Croc’s Block in the mid-seventies,
the pain! Save me, William!’ That’s all him!" About the and was a well-known TV spokesman for the Internation-
show’s cancellation, Mumy said, "I don’t know what hap- al House of Pancakes. In 2009 his final performance was
pened. All I know is that we were all told we’re coming finally released. He had done a recording session in 2001
back. Then, you know we got a call that we weren’t." The for a short animated film titled The Bolt Who Screwed
death of Harris’ father in 1977 drew Harris and Mumy Christmas in which he plays the Narrator and "The Bolt".
closer. The two kept in touch for almost 35 years until He died about a year after his recording session, long be-
Harris’ death. On June 14, 1995, Mumy and the rest of fore the independent film was completed. The film also
the crew paid tribute to series’ creator Irwin Allen, who features voiceover work by Bill Mumy, Angela Cartwright
died late in 1991. In 1996, Mumy was reunited with Harris and Marta Kristen, their parts added to the film after his
alongside Leonard Nimoy (of Star Trek fame), at a Disney passing as a small tribute with the film dedicated in his
World convention. It was also reported in 1997 that memory.
Mumy, Harris and the rest of the surviving cast appeared
on the inside cover of TV Guide to promote the new Later career
movie, while the Sci-Fi Channel would feature a Lost in In 1990, Harris reunited with the cast of Lost In Space to
Space marathon. In the actual 1965 television premiere of celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show’s debut, an
Lost in Space, the blast-off of the Jupiter 2 is set in the fu- event attended by more than 30,000 fans. Harris (along-
ture on October 16, 1997. The Sci-Fi Channel began the side June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen, Bill
Lost in Space marathon in real-time 32 years later on Oc- Mumy and Angela Cartwright) also appeared in a 1995
tober 16, 1997. television tribute to Irwin Allen, who had died four years
prior.
Typecasting Harris reprised his role as Dr. Smith in the one-hour
Although he is considered something of a cult icon for TV special Lost in Space Forever in 1998, and again in The
this role, Harris became typecast as the fey villain. Allen Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen. However, unlike his costars
cast him as a villainous "Pied Piper" in an episode of Land in the original show (June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Mar-
of the Giants. Approached by Irwin Allen, a second time, to ta Kristen and Angela Cartwright) he refused to make
star in a children’s series, Jumbalina and the Teeners, Harris a cameo appearance in the motion picture version of
turned it down. In 1970, Harris played the role of anoth- Lost in Space later that year. He announced, "I’ve never
er not-so-likeable villain, when he guest starred as the played a bit part in my life and I’m not going to start
Bulmanian Ambassador in the Get Smart episode, "How now!" (Bill Mumy also did not appear in the feature film.)
Green Was My Valet." A more favorable guest role of Har- Gary Oldman played the part of Dr. Smith in the film,
ris’ was his portrayal of Charles Dickens in a 1963 episode but as a more genuinely menacing and less likeable char-
of Bonanza. He also appeared in two 1961 episodes of The acter than Harris’ on TV. An episode of The Simpsons
Twilight Zone. has a cameo of "Dr. Smith" along with The Robot; multi-
ple episodes of Freakazoid had a character of a cowardly
Premier voice-over actor and guest star- "Professor Jones"; in both "Professor Jones" utters his
ring roles catchphrase "Oh, the pain!" In case there was any ques-
tion about the parody, numerous characters would ask
Harris spent most of the remainder of his career as a
him, "Weren’t you on a TV show with a robot?"
voice actor, heard in television commercials as well as
During the months leading up to the film’s release,
cartoons such as Channel Umptee-3, The Banana Splits, My
the Sci-Fi Channel aired Lost In Space marathons in many
Favorite Martians, Rainbow Brite, Darkwing Duck, Happily
markets, in which each of the actors were interviewed.
Ever After, Problem Child, Visionaries: Knights of the Magical
On April 9, 1998, Harris appeared as a guest on the talk
Light (giving a masterclass in sycophancy as lackey to the
show Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where Harris fondly
main villain), Freakazoid! (reprising the Smith character
reminisced about his Lost In Space days, admitting he
and dialogue under the name "Professor Jones,") A Bug’s
would stay up nights thinking of new insults for The
Life, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Toy Story 2. He
Robot ("bellicose bumpkin", "bubble-headed booby") be-
also had several cameo and guest appearances, including
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jonathan Harris
cause he enjoyed the interaction so much. Host O’Brien history that anybody got Special Guest Star. I started
brought one of his characters, Pimp-Bot 5000 (a "robot that whole nonsense". (Source: brainyquote.com)
pimp"), onto the set, and Harris went into character as • On the cancellation of Lost in Space: "When the
Dr. Smith and proceeded to insult Pimp-Bot. Shying away curtain comes down, you’re disappointed. Always,
from his usual dry, sarcastic, and often self-deprecating the curtain comes down. I’ve done so much work,
style, Conan confessed to Harris that he brought him on and then the curtain comes down and you go on to
the show just to have him insult Pimp-Bot, and that the something else". (Source: biography.com)
moment made his day. • When his father finally arrived at the theatre to see
his son: "He came to the dressing room, gave me a
Hobbies hug and a kiss and said, ’You belong here.’ I never
forgot it". (Source: biography.com)
Throughout his long life, Jonathan had a number of hob- • Jonathan on trying his hand on being a leading man
bies: cooking, watching movies, reading, traveling, paint- of the 1940s: "I thought I was Cary Grant. Oh, I
ing, magic, playing piano, listening to opera, spending looked into the mirror, and said, ’Yes, Yes. It’s Cary
time with children, gardening and knitting. He also did Grant’. And then, I pulled myself together and said,
some dancing in his spare time. According to the A&E ’Are you kidding?’ You’re a character man". (Source:
Biography, on one episode of Lost In Space, Jonathan’s biography.com)
character, Dr. Smith, did a groovy 1960s dance with Pen-
ny and Will Robinson (Angela Cartwright and Bill Mumy).
References
Personal life [1]
[2]
Jonathan Harris at the Internet Movie Database
Good Guys Wear Black Cast, Internet Movie
Jonathan was married to his high school sweetheart, Database
Gertrude Bregman, from 1938 until his death. They have [3] http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0364893/
a son, Richard (born 1942).[3] bio#trivia
Harris’ father, Sam Charasuchin, was struck and [4] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TILsnAMhoZo
killed in a car accident in New York City in 1977. He was [5] LOST IN SPACE: THE JOURNEY HOME
93 years old at the time of his death.[4] [6] Pace, Eric (2002-11-05), "Jonathan Harris, 87, Dr.
In late 2002, Harris and the rest of the surviving cast Smith In 60’s TV Series ’Lost in Space’", The New
of the TV series were preparing for a two-hour movie en- York Times, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/
titled Lost In Space: The Journey Back Home.[5] However, just fullpage.html?res=9B0CE2DD123EF936A35752C1A9649C8B63
before the movie was about to film, he was taken to the
hospital where he had a back problem, which led to his
suffering heart failure.
External links
Harris was a mentor, and a close personal friend to • Jonathan Harris at the Internet Movie Database
writer/producer/director William Winckler. • Jonathan Harris at the Internet Broadway Database
• Jonathan Harris, the man, the myth, the legend
Death • The Bolt Who Screwed Christmas, Final Film Of
Jonathan Harris
Jonathan Harris died on November 3, 2002, in Encino, Persondata
California of a blood clot to the heart, just three days
Name Harris, Jonathan
before his 88th birthday. He was survived by his wife
Gertrude and his son Richard, along with two sisters and Alternative names Charasuchin, Jonathan Daniel
two grandchildren.[6] Among his eulogists was castmate Short description
and decades-long friend Bill Mumy. His widow, Gertrude Date of birth November 6, 1914(1914-11-06)
(Bregman) Harris, died of natural causes, on August 28,
2007, at the age of 93. Place of birth The Bronx, New York
Date of death 2002-11-3
Quotes Place of death Encino, California
• Jonathan on his characteristic accent: "I’m not
British, just affected". (Source: biography.com)
• On receiving a guest-starring role for every episode
of Lost In Space: "That was the first time ever in
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jonathan_Harris&oldid=466595284"
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jonathan Harris
Categories:
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