Mark Goddard, the boyishly handsome star of the '60s classic Lost in Space, died October 10 after a monthslong illness.
His wife Evelyn confirmed his death in a statement:
"I’m so sorry to tell you that my wonderful husband passed away on October 10th. Several days after celebrating his 87th birthday [on July 24], he was hospitalized with pneumonia. We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure."
"He received excellent care at the beautiful Pat Roche Hospice Home,and was able to die peacefully and with dignity. His children and I had the chance to express our love and say our goodbyes. I’ll never know how I deserved to spend 33 years with such a loving, gentle, handsome man who made me laugh so often."
Goddard was born July 24, 1936, in Lowell, Massachusetts.
Athletic, he chose acting over sports, making his TV debut in 1959.
Over the years, he was a regular on a number of shows that have not survived in popular culture as handily as Lost in Space, including Johnny Ringo (1959-1960), The Detectives (1960-1962) and Many Happy Returns (1964-1965).
On Lost in Space (1965-1968), he was dashing Don West, an astronaut sent on a five-and-a-half-year mission into space with the all-American Robinson family, only to discover they've been thrown off course deliberately by a spy in their midst.
The far-future show was set in ... 1997.
He went on to appear on The Beverly Hillbillies (1964), Gunsmoke (1964), Perry Mason (1963 & 1965) and The Fugitive (1965), as well as in the film Roller Boogie (1979) and, in a cameo, in the 1998 feature-film adaptation of Lost in Space.
He even got to work with Liza Minnelli on Broadway, in 1978's The Act.
Goddard was married twice before his wife of over 30 years, Evelyn. He is survived by her and by his three children.
One tragic postscript — it was Goddard and his then-wife who discovered the nude body of their friend, actress Karyn Kupcinet (1941-1963), on November 30, 1963. She had behaved erratically two days before when with them, and her death was ruled a homicide by strangulation.
