‘Another man provided the voice’

A lot of deaths seem to have been postponed from Christmas this year, our ATM (‘All Things Mortal’) correspondent has noted. In 2007, the big deaths occurred over the festive season, news quirks aside; recently, we’ve had the tragic double bill of John Mortimer and Tony Hart (not to mention David Vine, the ‘face of snooker’) both treated to understandably glowing obituaries.

Then there’s Bob May, upon whose death ABC news rather unfortunately immortalised as the ‘guy inside the Robot suit on Lost In Space…another man provided the voice’. (It’s like David Prowse and James Earl Jones over Darth Vader.) May was a lifelong performer, on stage from the age of two, and a stuntman of gung-ho showbiz physicality – this is just as well, as the selection process for Lost In Space was ruthless. May recalled show creator Irwin Allen declaring: ‘if you can fit in the suit, you’ve got the job.’

Any readers who feel sorry for a diminutive note in May’s remembrance shouldn’t: The former Vaudevillian loved the part, describing the suit as a ‘home away from home’ and even smoking in it between takes (plumes leaking from the suit), something you can’t imagine happening on the soundstages of today. He enjoyed the LIS conventions, too.

Incidentally, the man who provided the voice is still going strong. Veteran announcer Dick Tufeld, now 82, is likely to be remembered in a similar fashion, at least by the media – although he also provided the memorable narrations for Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea and Time Tunnel, which provides more scope for pictures.