A dear man named Jonathan Harris has passed away just shy of his 88th birthday. I call him a "dear man" because he always called me (and every male he met), "dear boy" and because he was an enormously charming gentleman. He was everything you'd want an aging character actor to be — theatrical in gesture and melodramatic in every emotion. He had about ten wonderful show business anecdotes and when I directed a show he was in, I heard each one about six times, sometimes twice in one day. Each was a fully-realized performance, worth enjoying again and again and again…especially the one where he told about stealing his manner of speaking from Tallulah Bankhead.
Jonathan was best known for his years as permanent "Special Guest Star" on the TV show, Lost in Space, where he played the villainous-but-whiny Dr. Smith. Cringing from outer space aliens or swapping banter with robots, he always had that "star" quality: You couldn't take your eyes off him. Before and immediately after that series, he did dozens of guest star roles on television and whenever possible, returned to his first love, which was the stage. He told me that, back then, he loved everything about acting except the inevitable fans who confused him with Ray Walston. He would rant — hilariously — about the well-meaning idiots who thought he was the star of My Favorite Martian. (The mistake was due to more than physical resemblance or the outer space motif of their respective shows. Jonathan often toured in Damn Yankees, playing the role originated by Mr. Walston.)
Around 1970, Jonathan began to find a few more things he disliked about on-camera performing — the endless auditions, the childish (to him) casting agents, etc. — but he still loved acting too much to abandon it. He turned almost exclusively to voiceover work and did quite well in it…though, in a fit of irony, one of his first animation roles was a character based on Ray Walston in the My Favorite Martians cartoon show. Everyone loved working with him, though it was difficult to not go home talking like Jonathan…or maybe Tallulah. He was truly infectious in only the best way, and he proved conclusively the show biz adage that the most glorious villains are played by the nicest people.