Don't tell the Robinson family that robots don't have souls.
For three years on the classic 1960s sci-fi series Lost in Space, Bob May, in the words of costar Bill Mumy, "managed to create a classic TV personality out of a claustrophoic fiberglass prop."
May died Sunday. He was 69.
The robot costume gave May, a showbiz lifer who also worked as a stuntman, his most famous role, even if it left his face unseen—and his voice unheard.
"He memorized 40-50 pages of dialogue each week for 84 episodes, and delivered it with passion and rhythm while all the time knowing that it would eventually be rerecorded by Dick Tufeld," Mumy wrote on his Website this past weekend.
Yes, it was Tufeld, not May, who could heard warning Mumy's young Will Robinson of "Danger!" But, ultimately, it was May who made the robot. And vice versa.
As May himself said at a 2007 fan convention: "It was my home away from home."