Massachusetts-Born ‘Lost in Space’ Star Mark Goddard Dies at 87

Traveling to distant universes was the rage on television in the mid-1960s. Two TV series based on space travel hit the airwaves in 1965, taking viewers to infinity and beyond. Both shows became television classics, which led to Hollywood fame.

Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the other inhabitants of the starship USS Enterprise took us "where no man has gone before" each week on Star Trek.

The other space-centric television classic, Lost in Space, told the story of the Robinson family, literally lost in space aboard the Jupiter 2, along with stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith and the loveable robot appropriately named Robot. 

The series Lost in Space starred veteran actors Guy Williams and June Lockhart as John and Maureen Robinson. Marta Kristen played daughter Judy Robison. Angela Cartwright appeared as the family's youngest daughter Penny Robinson, and Bill Mumy was Will Robinson.

Jonathan Harris played Dr. Smith, and Mark Goddard was the Jupiter 2's pilot, Major Don West, who fell hard for Judy Robinson.

Goddard died on Tuesday, October 10, 2023, in Hingham, Massachusetts from pulmonary fibrosis at 87.

Born Charles Harvey in Lowell, Massachusetts on July 24, 1936, Goddard, raised in Scituate, was the youngest of six children. He attended Holy Cross but left school in 1958 to pursue an acting career.

The Hollywood Reporter says, "Goddard wrote in his 2008 memoir, To Space and Back, when he saw himself in his tight, silver lame spacesuit for the first time, he 'took a deep breath, took a second look of the image of a wrapped-aluminum baked potato and said to myself, 'How the hell did this happen?'"

Mumy remained friends with Goddard through the years and remembers Goddard "passionately followed his Boston sports teams." Mumy posted to his Facebook page that Goddard "was a die-hard Celtics fan."

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When Lost in Space went off the air, Goddard found work in television including soap operas One Life to Live and General Hospital.

Goddard later received his master’s degree in education from Bridgewater State College and spent almost 20 years as a special education teacher at the F.L. Chamberlain School in Middleboro.

Goddard was married three times and had three children.

Lost In Space trivia: Robot was voiced by Bob May.