Lost in Space ran for three seasons, with 83 episodes airing between September 15, 1965 and March 6, 1968. The first season was shot with black and white film, the rest in color. The show focused primarily on Jonathan Harris as Dr. Zachary Smith, originally an utterly evil would-be killer who as the first season progressed became a sympathetic anti-hero, providing comic relief to the show (and causing most of the problems). The show had ratings to support a fourth season, but it was expensive. The budget per episode for Season One was $130,980, and for Season Three, $164,788. In that time, the actors' salaries increased; in the case of Harris, Kristen and Cartwright, their salaries nearly doubled.
Doctor John Robinson: (Guy Williams) The expedition commander, a pilot, and the father of the Robinson children. He is an astrophysicist who also specializes in applied planetary geology. When Guy had first visited Argentina in 1973 he was quite taken by the admiration and fascination the Argentine people expressed for him and his character of 'El Zorro'. In return, Guy fell in love with the culture and people of Argentina. In the 1970s he retired, except for personal appearances, to Recoleta, an upscale neighborhood of Buenos Aires.Later in 1989, while spending solitary months in Argentina, Guy Williams (then 65 years old) disappeared. The local police searched his apartment in Recoleta on May 7, finding his body. He had suffered a a week before that day. He was wearing the characteristic Zorro's sideburns and mustache when they found him. In accordance with his wishes, Guy Williams' ashes were spread over the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, California
Doctor Maureen Robinson: (June Lockhart) John's biochemist wife. Her role in the series is often to prepare meals, tend the garden and help with light construction, while adding a voice of compassion. Her status as a doctor is mentioned only in the first episode. At this writing, the actor is 85 years old.
Major Don West: (Mark Goddard) The military pilot of the Jupiter 2, he is Dr. Smith's handsome long-suffering space partner, intemperate and intolerant adversary. His mutual romantic interest with Judy was not developed beyond the first few episodes. In the un-aired pilot, "Doctor Donald West" was a graduate student astrophysicist and expert in interplanetary geology, rather than a military man. Goddard is a New Englander and was raised in Scituate Mass.Goddard finished college thirty years after beginning his studies and thereafter received his Master's degree in education. He is currently a special education teacher at the F.L. Chamberlain School in Middleboro, Massachusetts. In 2009, he released an autobiographical memoir, To Space and Back.
Judy Robinson: (Marta Kristen) The oldest child, about 19 years old at the outset of the series. She planned a career in musical theater but went with her family instead. Kristen was born Birgit Annalisa Rusanen in Oslo, Norway, to a Finnish mother and a German soldier father who was killed during World War II. She was adopted in 1949 by an American couple from Detroit, Michigan and was renamed Marta. She moved to Los Angeles, California, with her family in 1959 and is a graduate of Santa Monica High School.Her personal life has revolved around discovering her roots, caring for her daughter, and now caring for her granddaughter. On a trip to Finland in 1969 she located her birth mother, Helmi Rusanen and an older sister whom she had never met, and in 1997 she discovered a brother residing in Australia.
Penny Robinson: (Angela Cartwright) An 11-year-old, she loves animals and classical music. She acquires a chimpanzee-like alien pet that made one sound, "Bloop". While it is sometimes remembered by that name, Penny had named the creature Debbie. Most of Penny's adventures have a fairy-tale quality, underscoring her innocence. She is also Dr. Smith's helpful mate. Cartwright is English-born
Will Robinson: (Billy Mumy) A 9-year-old child prodigy in electronics. Often, he is a friend to Smith when no one else is. Will is also the member of the family closest to the Robot.
Doctor Zachary Smith: (Jonathan Harris) A Doctor of intergalactic environmental psychology, expert in Cybernetics and an enemy agent, roles that are rarely mentioned after the initial episodes. His attempt to sabotage the mission strands him aboard the Jupiter 2 and results in its becoming lost. By the end of the first season the character becomes permanently established as a foolish, self-serving, impulsive, scheming coward but not at the degree displayed in the latter two seasons. His maudlin ways and clever dialogue add a unique dimension. His best lines are in response to the "straight man" Robot. Despite having a Special Guest Star appearance for every episode, Smith is the pivotal character of the series. Harris was born Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin to a poor family in The Bronx, New York. His parents, who eked out a living in Manhattan's garment district, were Sam and Jennie Charasuchin. Jonathan's ancestry was Russian-Jewish and Polish. His family resided in a six-tenant apartment complex. To raise money, his mother took in boarders, some of whom were given 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 father 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.Jonathan was married to his high school sweetheart, Gertrude Bregman, from 1938 until his death
The Robot: The Robot is a Class M-3 Model B9, General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot, which had no given name. Although a machine endowed with superhuman strength and futuristic weaponry, he often displayed human characteristics such as laughter, sadness, and mockery as well as singing and playing the guitar. The Robot was performed by Bob May in a prop costume built by Bob Stewart. The voice was dubbed by Dick Tufeld, who was also the series' narrator. The Robot was designed by Robert Kinoshita, whose other cybernetic claim to fame is as the designer of Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot. Robby appears in LIS #20 "War of the Robots", and the first episode of season three; "Condemned of space".