Lost in Space Actor Bob May Dies at 69

May died Sunday of congestive heart failure at a hospital in Lancaster, CA, according to his daughter, Deborah May.

Lost in Space was a science-fiction version of The Swiss Family Robinson story. Professor John Robinson, his wife Maureen, pilot Don West and their children Judy, Penny, and Will were knocked off course by Dr. Zachary Smith, the hapless villain of the show, who became "lost in space" with them.

The Robot was a Model B-9, Class M-3 General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot. It was designed for the show by Robert Kinoshita (who also designed Forbidden Planet's Robby the Robot; the similarities are quite obvious).

While Bob May wore The Robot suit, the voice was dubbed by Dick Tufeld, who was also the series' narrator.

The Lost in Space series eventually devolved into the "Will, Dr. Smith, and The Robot" show, with many of the episodes centering around those three, with the rest of the cast playing second fiddle to them. Many of the episodes involved Dr. Smith getting into trouble, and Will (and The Robot) getting him out of it.

Some of the best-remembered lines of the series are catch-phrases of The Robot, who would say things like "Warning! Warning!," "That does not compute," and "Danger, Will Robinson!" (possibly the most iconic).

According to June Lockhart, who played Maureen Robinson, the role of The Robot was given to Bob May because of luck, and size. As she told AP:

"He always said he got the job because he fit in the robot suit. It was one of those wonderful Hollywood stories. He just happened to be on the studio lot when someone saw him and sent him to see Irwin Allen about the part. Allen said, 'If you can fit in the suit, you've got the job."'

He did, and the rest is campy, 60's TV history.