Mark Goddard, the actor best known for his role as Major Don West on the late 1960s TV sci-fi adventure series “Lost in Space,” has died. He was 87.
According to a report Friday on hollywoodreporter.com, Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts. The cause of death was pulmonary fibrosis, according to his third wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, the report said.
“Lost in Space” followed the journey of the futuristic Robinson family, led by parents Maureen (played by June Lockhart) and John (Guy Williams), their daughters Judy (Marta Kristen) and Penny (Angela Cartwright), and the bumbling stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris). Goddard’s character Don was the ship’s pilot and Dr. Smith’s constant adversary.
Goddard’s “Lost in Space” co-star Billy Mumy, who portrayed the Robinson’s precocious son, Will, took to Facebook on Friday to pay tribute to the actor, writing that the last words they exchanged during a phone call in July were “I love you.”
“R.I.P. to Mark Goddard,” Mumy wrote. “A truly beloved friend and brother to me for 59 years. ... He and I had a lot of great memorable times together during the three years of filming the series. We got into some pretty goofy trouble. ... Mark was a truly fine actor. Naturally gifted as well as trained. I know he sometimes felt constricted by the campy frame that LIS constrained him within, but he also embraced and loved it.”
According to Wikipedia, Goddard (born Charles Harvey Goddard) was born on July 24, 1936, in Lowell, Massachusetts, the youngest of five children. He attended the College of the Holy Cross after high school and later transferred to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.
His first TV role after landing in Los Angeles in the late 1950s was on the CBS series “Johnny Ringo.” Other early TV work included guest appearances on “Gunsmoke,” “The Virginian,” “Perry Mason” and “The Mod Squad.” But it was his breakout role on “Lost in Space” that would bring him is greatest fame and fan following.
In 1998, he took on his final acting role in a cameo appearance for the “Lost in Space” feature film, which starred Matt LeBlanc as Don West.
Netflix released a reboot of the classic TV series in 2018; Goddard and other stars from the original show attended the Los Angeles premiere.
Goddard was married three times, to Marcia Rogers from 1960 to 1968, followed by actress Susan Anspach (“Five Easy Pieces,” “Play it Again, Sam”) in the 1970s, and his widow Evelyn Pezzulich, an English professor, whom he married in 1990 and with whom he shared one child. Goddard changed career paths in the late 1980s after earning a bachelor’s degree in education and eventually working as a special-education teacher in Middleboro, Massachusetts, for 20 years.
In a 1991 interview, Goddard looked back on his life and career, taking it all in stride. “I was blessed to have a good life. I blew it in a lot of ways, I screwed it up, but I survived it,” he said.
On Facebook Friday, Angela Cartwright also paid tribute to Goddard, writing: “Bidding so long, farewell to Mark Goddard who stepped off this planet October 10th. I loved him as Major Don (Crash) West, but loved him also as a friend, a funny, quirky guy, who always made me laugh on set and off. He was special with a big heart and he’ll be sorely missed.”
