‘Lost in Space’ Actor Mark Goddard Dies at 87
Mark Goddard, known for his role as Major Don West, the fiery pilot of Jupiter 2 in the 1960s CBS adventure series Lost in Space, has passed away at 87. His wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, confirmed his death to The Hollywood Reporter.
Goddard was already a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when his agent introduced him to the opportunity to join the new series Lost in Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen.
The sci-fi series revolved around the Robinson family, including Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart), and their children Judy, Penny, and Will (Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright, and Billy Mumy).
Major West, along with a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (designed by Robert Kinoshita of “Forbidden Planet,” played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld), embarked on a space colonization mission that took a wayward turn after their spacecraft was sent off course by the clumsy Dr. Smith in October 1997.
20th Century-Fox Film Corp./Everett Collection
With a pilot episode that cost $600,000 and required 21 days to create, Lost in Space aired for 83 episodes spanning three seasons, from September 1965 to March 1968. Throughout the series, Goddard’s character primarily engaged in conflicts with Dr. Smith and, much like the rest of the cast, often found himself overshadowed by the memorable robot character performed by Bob May.
Charles Harvey Goddard was born on July 24, 1936, in Lowell, Massachusetts, the youngest of five kids. Raised in Scituate, where his father owned a general store, he left Holy Cross during his junior year in 1958 to pursue acting.
Goddard then attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, worked at a Woolworths supermarket in the evenings, and moved to Hollywood in 1959. He appeared in an episode of The Rifleman and a TV movie called Woman on the Run, starring Joan Crawford and directed by Dick Powell, both for Four Star.
In the 1959-60 Western series Johnny Ringo, he played Cully for CBS and Four Star. After that show’s cancellation, he joined ABC’s The Detectives in September 1960, adding youthful energy to the show starring Robert Taylor.
Goddard made appearances on various shows like Burke’s Law, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Perry Mason before playing Elinor Donahue’s character’s husband on the 1964-65 CBS comedy Many Happy Returns, set in a department store, taking him full-circle with his previous experience at Woolworths.
Goddard, who said Lost in Space never challenged him as an actor, admits working on set brought on its own tests.
“There was tension all the time. There was tension with the cinematographer, there was tension with the writers coming down, there was always something going on. … You know what they say, the ‘fish stinks from the head,’ said Goddard during an interview for Tom Weaver’s 1995 book, They Fought in the Creature Features.
“This isn’t fair to say because Irwin is dead and he can’t defend himself, but I think that his kind of perfection, what he wanted and the way he wanted it, his very cold manner with everyone — this permeated right from him to the writers, to the directors, to the cast to the crew. You could sense that.”
By the end of Lost in Space, Goddard’s earnings reached $1,170 per week. He also featured in films such as The Monkey’s Uncle (1965) with Annette Funicello, A Rage to Live (1965) starring Suzanne Pleshette, and The Love-Ins (1967).
Following his time on Lost in Space, Goddard found himself typecast as a “space show” actor. He took on roles in soap operas like One Life to Live and General Hospital and made guest appearances on shows like Petrocelli, The Streets of San Francisco, Benson, and Barnaby Jones. He also appeared in the 1977 film Blue Sunshine.
He had a cameo role in the 1998 Lost in Space feature adaptation, as did Lockhart, Cartwright, and Kristen, with Matt LeBlanc playing Don West. The Netflix series that ran from 2018 to 2021 featured Ignacio Serricchio as his character.
After his acting career, Goddard pursued further education, obtained a master’s degree, and spent over 20 years teaching special-education children in his home state.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by his daughter, Melissa Goddard.
