Pop culture Q&A

By Rich Heldenfels

McClatchy Newspapers

Q. As a boy, I enjoyed the television series “Lost in Space.” Could you tell me if the actors are still living and what followed in their careers?

A. Guy Williams, who played John Robinson, died in 1989. Jonathan Harris (Dr. Smith) died in 2002. Bob May, who played the robot, died in 2002; Dick Tufeld, the voice of the robot, is still with us. So are Mark Goddard (Don West), June Lockhart (Maureen Robinson), Marta Kristen (Judy Robinson), Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson) and Bill Mumy (Will Robinson).

Lockhart is still working; her next screen credit will be “Zombie Hamlet.” Goddard’s once-frequent screen appearances have not been as often of late; he did publish a memoir, “To Space and Back,” in 2008, and appears at fantasy and nostalgia conventions. His website is www.mark-goddard.com. Kristen also appears at conventions and acts on occasion; her website is http://martakristen.com. Mumy has acted, written (including comic books) and made music; you can find out more at www.billmumy.com. Cartwright has been active in art, jewelry and clothing design — see www.angela-cartwright.com. Not long ago, she was revisiting another old acting role, in “The Sound of Music,” to help promote its release on Blu-ray.

Q. Is the movie “The Opposite Sex,” which is a remake of “The Women,” out on DVD?

A. It is. The Warner Bros. Archive Collection released it in October in a remastered version; you can order it at http://www.wbshop.com.

Some background: Clare Boothe Luce’s play “The Women” inspired movies in 1939 and again in 2008 under the same name. “The Opposite Sex” is a major retooling in that it turned the play into a musical — and included men in the cast, which was not the case in the play or the other two screen versions.

Q. I enjoy the series “Leverage” but am stumped about something. How do the clients in need FIND the team? I would imagine advertising their services would alert “criminals.” I must have missed the episode that explained that!

A. In a commentary on the TNT show’s first-season DVD, one of the producers wryly notes that the show’s con artists are almost like angels in their ability to find people in need. “Leverage” planned to include a scene in its second episode that explained how the team got its cases. But the scene did not fit into the production schedule, so it was not shot — and the producers later concluded that viewers (well, most of them) didn’t really care about how cases were chosen. The fun, after all, is in the characters and their schemes.

Q. Years ago, I saw most of a movie that starred Eric Braeden as a jealous husband. It took place at a ski resort. I don’t remember the end of the movie and I don’t know the title. As a fan of Eric Braeden’s, I have been looking ever since for that movie. Do you know the title and could you tell me if it is on tape, DVD or something?

A. It appears that you are remembering “The Ultimate Thrill,” a 1974 movie starring Britt Ekland, with Braeden as her husband. I do not know of an authorized release on home video. And be careful when shopping for it, since there is also an adult film with the same title.

Braeden, by the way, was in a recent verbal skirmish with “How I Met Your Mother’s” Neil Patrick Harris, who was irked when Braeden backed out of a cameo as Robin’s dad on the show. Braeden told EW.com that he had been working hard on “The Young and the Restless,” was exhausted and “I was not about to appear on a show for two lines, because that’s what it amounted to.” “HIMYM” replaced Braeden with Ray Wise.