Jonathan Harris
Biography
Jonathan Harris was an American character actor whose career took in more than 500 television and film appearances, along with a great deal of voice work. Born in the Bronx, he earned a pharmacology degree at Fordham University before turning to the stage, joining a Long Island repertory company in 1940 and reaching Broadway in The Heart of a City in 1942. He became a familiar television character actor from 1949, and from 1959 to 1965 he played Bradford Webster, the eccentric and cowardly assistant in The Third Man. His best-known part was the scheming Dr. Zachary Smith in Lost in Space, which he helped shape as a comic villain until the series ended in 1968. Later he worked largely in animation, lending his voice to Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer (1985), Happily Ever After (1989), A Bug's Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999).
87years old at death
- Born The Bronx
- Died Encino
- Star sign: ScorpioThe sign runs October 23 to November 21
- Also credited as Jonathan Daniel Charasuchin
Movie Career
- Films
- 7
- Career span
- 47 years1952 to 1999
Genres
First and latest
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Big break
Harris won the part of Dr. Zachary Smith, the scheming enemy agent on Lost in Space, beating two other actors. Neither that character nor The Robot was in the original 1965 CBS pilot, and Harris got "Special Guest Star" billing on every episode.
A change of course
Harris graduated from Fordham University in 1936 with a degree in pharmacology. He went on to work as an actor.
A change of course
Harris taught drama and spent years as Chuck Norris's vocal coach. Norris said Harris showed him how to speak by putting his fingers in Norris's mouth, and that Harris was the only person he would permit to do so.
A role that slipped away
Harris turned down a cameo in the 1998 re-imagined Lost in Space film, unlike many of his co-stars from the original series. He said he had never played a bit part in his life and would not start now.
Jonathan Harris movies on Netflix
Best known for
The films on Netflix they are best known for, with the part played in each.
Most often with
John Lasseter directed two of these films. Six actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Frank Welker's page
Edward Asner's page
John Ratzenberger's page
Phyllis Diller's page
Linda Gary's page
Joe Ranft's page
All films by John Lasseter
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.