Born Jonathan Charasuchin in the Bronx to impoverished Russian-Jewish émigrés, Jonathan Harris worked as a box boy in a pharmacy at age 12 and later earned his pharmacy degree at Fordham University. The desire to act proved overwhelming, however, and he forsook this promising trade for the theater, shaking off his thick Bronx accent and changing his surname to one easier to pronounce. After performing in over 100 plays in stock companies nationwide, he made his Broadway bow in 1942 with "Heart of a City" and entertained WWII troops in the South Pacific.

Following his introduction to live television drama in 1948, he ventured off to Hollywood and made his film debut, co-starring with Alan Ladd and James Mason in Botany Bay. However, it was TV that would make him a household name - first as Bradley Webster in The Third Man opposite Michael Rennie, and then the role that made him a cult icon, Dr. Zachary Smith, the dastardly, effete stowaway on Lost in Space, with Harris easily stealing the show week after week as he botched and mangled all the good intentions of the Robinson family to get back home to Earth. Unable to top this achievement and seriously typecast as a plummy villain, the remainder of his career was spent with great relish providing voice-over work in commercials and animated cartoons. Harris died of a blood clot to the heart just days before his 88th birthday.
Received a degree in pharmacology from Fordham University. Born in the borough of the Bronx (New York City) to Russian-Jewish immigrants. Survived by his wife, Gertrude, of 64 years and one son, Richard. Although he reprised his most infamous role as Dr. Smith in a one-hour TV special Lost in Space Forever in 1998, he refused a cameo in the motion picture version of Lost in Space later that year, unlike June Lockhart, Mark Goddard, Marta Kristen and Angela Cartwright, the other stars of the 60s show. With typically cryptic "Dr. Smith" flair, he announced that if he could not play his own role in the movie, he wanted nothing to do with it. Interestingly, Gary Oldman portrayed "Dr. Smith" in a curiously subdued fashion. Often brought a large bag of tootsie-roll pops to work for the cast and crew. He was the only cast member of Lost in Space who would not appear at fan-related conventions without being paid. His asking price was $500. Harris died from a blood clot in his heart while receiving therapy at an Encino-area hospital for a chronic back problem. Although his character's eventual monopolization of Lost in Space aggravated members of the cast, all of them stated that he was the nicest of people to work with. Just before his death, Harris was involved in the NBC project of "Lost in Space: The Journey Home" in which the Robinson family may be returning to earth. Was a frequent guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show Before entering the show business, he watched lots of English movies to adopt the ways of a classical British actor. His Broadway debut was in 1942 on the play "Heart of the City". Would often sit up at night thinking of ways to insult the robot ("Be quiet, you bubble-headed booby!") while on Lost in Space. His colorful put-downs for his mechanical colleague, almost all of them unscripted, are among the best-remembered aspects of the show. He was the co-star of the Bill Dana show. Much of his banter from that show was used on the robot in Lost in Space. At conventions, insisted that his booth or table be separate from the rest of Lost in Space cast members. He refused to be in the same part of the building as June Lockhart and convention coordinators had to accede to his demands - he was a major draw to conventions. Following Lost in Space, he did numerous commercials for the International House of Pancakes. He was the voice and drama coach of Chuck Norris. He "taught him how to speak," by putting his fingers in Norris's mouth, and stretching the mouth wide open. Chuck names him as the only man in the world who could get away with doing that to him...a fact of which he was always proud.