Bob May
From AlphaControl
| Bob May | |
| |
| Birth Name: | |
|---|---|
| Place of Birth: | |
| Birth Date: | September 4, 1939 |
| Date of Death: | January 18, 2009 |
| Gender: | Male |
| LIS Roles: | Robot Model B-9 |
The actor, Bob May is best known for portraying Robot Model B-9 in Lost in Space. Bob May played the Robot in the Lost in Space television series.
[edit] Notes
He was a veteran actor and stuntman who had appeared in movies, TV shows and on the vaudeville stage, when he was tapped by Lost in Space creator Irwin Allen to play the the Robot.
Bob was the grandson of famed vaudeville comedian Chic Johnson. He was introduced to show business at the age of 2 when he began appearing in the “Hellzapoppin” comedy revue with Johnson and his partner, Ole Olsen.
He went on to appear in numerous films with Jerry Lewis and in such TV shows as “The Time Tunnel,” “McHale’s Navy and “The Red Skelton Show.” He was also a stuntman in such 1950s and ’60s TV shows as “Cheyenne,” “Surfside 6,” “Hawaiian Eye,” “The Roaring 20s” and “Stagecoach.”
He was particularly fond of his Robot role, once saying he came to consider the suit a “home away from home.”
He wore the suit for hours at a time and learned the lines of every actor in the show so he would know when to respond to their cues. Because it wasn’t easy to get in and out of the suit, he kept it on during breaks.
Bob loved being the Robot. He once said in an interview, "I spent three years in the bucket and I'm very happy about it."[1]
Bob and his wife, Judith lost their house in November when a wildfire destroyed their upscale mobile home park in the San Fernando Valley.
Bob May died on Sunday, January 2009 of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Lancaster.
Survivors include his wife Judith; his daughter, Deborah; his son, Martin; and four grandchildren.
