Mark Goddard has died. Best known for his role as Major Don West on iconic ’60s sci-fi series Lost In Space, Goddard was a staple of American TV during that era, appearing in shows like The Detectives, Barnaby Jones, Perry Mason, and more. Although his career slowed down after Lost In Space ended in 1968, Goddard continued to work steadily for the next several decades, before ultimately retiring from acting to complete his college degree and become a special education teacher. Per THR, his death on Tuesday was confirmed today by his wife, Evelyn Pezzulich. Goddard was 87.
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Born in Massachusetts in the 1930s, Goddard pursued acting from a young age, initially working in the New York theater scene (where he hoped to be “the next Jimmy Dean,” according to a 1995 interview) before striking out for Los Angeles. There, he quickly secured a part on the single-season Western series Johnny Ringo. The show’s producers liked him enough that, when that series was shuttered, Goddard was moved over to the already running The Detectives, where he was ultimately paired up with Adam West—who he would later come to be in direct competition with, after Lost In Space was put up against the massively popular Batman a few years down the line.
After a few years of various guest star stints, Goddard was approached by Irwin Allen’s production company in 1965, offering him a role on Allen’s latest venture: A sci-fi take on Swiss Family Robinson. Goddard was originally hesitant to make the move into sci-fi, but was ultimately convinced by his agent, who reportedly told him “Take the money. Because nobody’s gonna see it and it’ll never sell.’”
But sell it did: While Lost In Space was never the biggest show on TV—despite its extensive budget, much of which went to its production design—it was a staple for three seasons on CBS. As West, Goddard was often the default lead for stories, even as he (like everyone else on the series) found himself upstaged, more often than not, by Jonathan Harris’ Dr. Smith and the show’s famous Robot.
After Lost In Space was canceled in 1968 (owing in part to increasing costs, decreasing ratings, and a slide toward being perceived as children’s television), Goddard continued to work with regularity, mostly in guest star roles. (Among other things, he picked up regular gigs in the soap opera trenches, appearing for multi-episode arcs in both One Life To Live and General Hospital.) One of his final acting roles came in 1998, when he appeared as a cameo in the Lost In Space movie, handing out mission orders to his successor as Don West, Matt LeBlanc.
In 1989, Goddard later told reporters, he had a “realization” about his life, and retired from acting. After going back to school to get his masters, he took up a post as a teacher at a Massachusetts school, where he worked for nearly 20 years (amidst occasional sci-fi convention appearances). “If I can help some kid go through a tough time in his life,” he said in a 2008 interview, “That’s what I want to do.”