Bill Mumy | The Complete Pioneers of Television Interview
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- Опубликовано: 8 июл 2022
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Bill Mumy, star of "Lost in Space", sits down to discuss what life was like as a young actor.
Director: Steven J Boettcher
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You can tell which child actors had good parents who understood the business and the needs of a growing child. Mumy and Ron Howard are excellent examples of successful child actors who developed into well adjusted adults. Such talented storytellers those men are.
"Will" on Lost in Space was my idol as a child and literally the reason I became interested in the sciences, now as a physician, but initially I wanted to be him, live his life in space, invent astrologic gadgets, bump into aliens, and be as nice, well-spoken, polite and thoughtful as "Will" - he was like a 360-role model. Kind of unbelievable. I've watched all of Bill Mumy's Lost in Space interviews, and his Dr. Smith imitations are simply a joy. Love him. Always "will."
Re: "astrologic gadgets"
Did you mean "astronomical gadgets"?
Astrologic refers to astrology (horoscope, etc).
@@tomc8617 Maybe the auto spell took over and they missed it. It's not like the fate of the planet hangs on it. Dr. Smith.
I've been an amateur astronomer for 30 plus years and some friends of mine still think my interest is in "astrology"! Lol! Apparently they think the 2 are one and the same.
You're a doctor who thinks that 'astrologic' is a word that belongs in that sentence.
Because I was so impressionable when I saw Lost in Space in reruns at the age of 7 or 8, it took a lot of personal growth 😂 to transition from hating Dr. Smith and Jonathan Harris, to appreciating the importance of the villain in any story and the actor playing him.
In my opinion - Billy was the greatest child actor ever.
Agree Billy was a brilliant actor
Truly the best, he just had that it
Factor,, very bright and oozes
Talent.. he's got something about
Him that draws you to him
Yet he's so grounded and
Down to earth..
And can do impressions of
Dr zachary Smith to perfection..
Agree❤
True. Dude was natural and never hammed it up.
No doubt
His Johnathan Harris impression is pure gold!! Lol. That was awesome!
Agreed, I watched a few JH interviews before viewing this. Bill was as spot on as anyone could be.
This guy does amazing interviews. Well-spoken and really quite humble and appreciative of the opportunities he got during his career. I enjoy listening to his stories...
His rendition of Jonathan Harris and Dr. Smith is perfect and spot on!
Billy was a gifted child and still very bright person.
Seems like a great Guy
Von I V
Bill Mumy is one of the coolest down to earth people you could ever meet, some years ago he was in Chicago at a autograph show and I always wanted to meet him and I got my wish because I really loved Lost in space never missed an episode so Think you Bill your the best. 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀
Never thought we would hear Rod Serling, Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis being compared as respective masters of their craft. But, considering that Bill Mumy has extensive experience in both acting and music making, he's the ideal person to make that comparison. Bravo, Bill.
Jason 😊👋
I'd like to add that Mr. Mumy was a great influence on me. I had a difficult childhood and the show was an oasis for me. Thank you so much. The moral integrity was a strong factor and all the cast and guests were wonderful. The trio of Will, Dr. Smith and the Robot were treasures.
Lost in Space really did look amazing in color
Larry 😬👋
I was a "Do-Bee" for two weeks on Romper Room. Good memories!
Like the "Doobies" music group?
I loved Lost in Space because I dreamed to be a member of that functional and loveable family.
Along with Ron Howard, Billy My is one of the most well adjusted former child actor/stars ever. No scandals. No controversies.
How could is it to be able to ride your Schwinn to work? How cool is it to be cast as the son of the man who was your TV hero just a few years ago?
Kurt Russel is another one.
And Tony Dow RIP.
I don't know who Billy My is and I don't understand your question about how it could be able to ride your Schwinn to work.
I truly enjoy your acting ability and characters you played. My favorite is Linear on Babylon 5. I loved your approach to the character. I liked the aliens better than the humans. You nailed it and can’t picture anyone else in the role.
And married to the same woman for decades.
He was a marvelous child actor. I saw him so much growing up and as a kid myself I thought he was really good in all his roles. It's nice to hear that his time on Lost In Space was a positive experience for him.
I’ve met Bill in person (invited to his home long ago), very cool and down to earth guy.
Your one lucky person to
Be invited to his home, he seems
One hell of a great, grounded, and
Can see the humor and fun
In most things, very bright and
Talented guy.. !!
He looks great for his age! I recognized him right away.
only his hair dresser knows for sure.
This interview is from 2011 when Bill Mumy was about 57 years old.
Danger will Robinson
The movie I remember best with Bill Mumy is "Bless The Beasts And Children". It was panned by some, but it had an enormous affect on me at the time, as I was bullied mercilessly in school. I loved that movie, and saw it eight times, concentrating on each character. Thank you, Bill Mumy, for giving a powerful performance!
Me too, Shari!
Yes! Yes! Had a huge impact on me too! They showed this movie at a school assembly at my high school and I remember some of the teachers were horrified and walked out of the theatre! This would have been in the mid 70s.
For me, Bill's portrayal of Lawrence Teft in *Bless the Beasts and Children* (1971) is as iconic as his portrayal of Will Robinson in *Lost in Space.*
I don't remember this movie!🙀
One of the most endearing and best movies I have ever seen in my life I still own it on DVD and I watch it occasionally great movie
I knew Billy briefly in high school. Both grew up in Beverlywood. Fun fact when Twilight Zone comes up in conversation and makes me smile when I come across his classic shows.
Cantor 🙄
Had the privilege of meeting the whole cast(excluding Guy Williams) at a NJ convention years ago. They were wonderful people, and so gracious and giving to the fans.
I grew up with Lost in Space, and Star Trek. Thanks Bill Mumy.
Mike Young 👋🙄
Lost In Space!
Someone who kept his head on straight through all the madness. Very enjoyable interview.
Kevin 👋
One of the finest interviews I've ever seen .. I was around for the first run & loved Lost In Space .. "DANGER ~ DANGER ~ WILL ~ ROBINSON " .. I never tired of that line .. ROBOT was My favorite .. ROBOT was EVERYBODY'S FAVORITE .. TgT
Best thing about this interview? Bill Mumy still pronounces the word robot as “robut.”
I remember as a kid (same age as Bill) I would be outside playing with my friends and I would have to run home to watch Lost in Space! ❤
Loved it as a kid. Bill Mumy carried that show and I thought the dad was just so handsome.
I had a crush on Guy Williams as Dr. John Robinson!
Thoroughly interesting interview with Bill Mumy. He articulated his career quite nicely and was down to earth like you would think he would be.
What a GREAT interview. When Amazon Prime recently started streaming my childhood favorite series, the original "Lost in Space," I revisited every episode not only for the fun of it all but to try to better understand myself. I realized so many years later (not having seen it since its original broadcast run in the 1960s) that Bill Mumy was a HUGE reason for my fascination with the show and also for its meteoric success. Bill shows by the force and power of his personality and intellect that it was no mistake. He was the heart of that show and understood at a young age the importance of BELIEVING in acting.
Bill, if you're reading this, thank you from the bottom of my heart for being such a consummate pro in LIS. You seem sane, smart and well-adjusted and I certainly hope that's true. I am delighted to hear your cast mates and you have strong bonds; few things could delight me more to hear. Be well and please keep working because I continue to delight in every frame you've graced and here's wishing you get to work with only the coolest, most spiritually generous people. You deserve nothing less.
Godspeed!
RG in L.A.
P.S. It would be WAY cool to see a pic or two of that Schwinn Stingray, man. I had a yellow "Lemon Peeler! in NJ"
I bought the DVD series!
21:10 Count me in.
As a 64 year old engineer who has been in laser technology since 1979, I owe much to wanting to be both like Will Robinson and Johnny Quest....they both had laser guns!
Hmm 🤔
@@Babararoot55 ?
Bill Mumy is such a diversified and talented person. I really enjoyed this video because Bill opens up and is a down to earth individual.
The thing about Bill was that he played his characters with gusto. He could assume the roles he played with ease and could radiate pathos on tap when needed. He obviously also had an excellent memory and could work well with whomever he was cast with. Indeed he really excelled next to other brilliant actors like Jimmy Stewart, Jack Klugman and dear Jonathan Harris.
I remember, as a little kid of six, really believing that Bill was out there in space with that wonderful robot, the lovely family and the deliciously evil Doctor Smith. He made the character real. All the kids at school thought Lost in Space was great and Bill was super! For me, the child of migrant parents with not a great deal of money...bullied because I was not WASP enough, Lost in Space was my escape. There I could idolise Bill as the big brother I would have loved to have had, Johnathan as a naughty grandfather (I never knew my grandparents) and the Robot as a good buddy. Those hours between arriving home from school (which I hated at the time) and my parents getting home from work were filled with Lost in Space which was replayed in the after school time slot in Australia for more than ten years. I could literally tell you the next line in each episode at the time but I didn't care...for me it was like a home away from home and this is the special talent that Bill and the ensemble cast had...they made it look real and they were so likeable that you enjoyed being in their company for that hour on tv. Good on you Bill... you really influenced people in so many positive ways.
what a fun childhood this guy had. got to do so many cool things and work with the best.
.
LOVE how animated and 'smiley' he is, especially when talking about Lost In Space. Just seems like a REAL down-to-earth, smart, cool human being.....and, as he mentioned, REALLY underscores what a GREAT job his parents did in keeping him SO grounded......
.
It's amazing how much of Hollywood that Bill Mumy was part of. He was on so many shows, and worked with so many actors. Just last week I dug out a DVD set of _I Dream Of Jeannie_ and there he was, even wearing a space helmet at one point.
Fabulous interview. Bill's insight, experience and storytelling prowess are on full display here. What a talent! Couldn't stop watching this.
Same here! What a Beautiful and Positive Human Being.
I’m the same age as Bill and practically watched him on TV as we both “grew-up”.
(As Dr. Smith would often say….”Oh, the pain”!)
Very interesting and entertaining interview from a former child actor who is well grounded and wasn’t corrupted like so many of his peers. Nice take on his experiences thru the prism of a musician.
Boy did he turn out good. Had kind of a charmed life didn't he. I grew up watching him, interesting to see that he is so "normal" as an adult. Just a nice guy with zero arrogance at all. His talking about the lunatic fans was absolutely fantastic.
Fascinating interview! Yes, given how many child actors run into issues Mr. Mumy is one of those who avoided that trap to lead a successful life, hopefully for many more years.
Besides everything else, Billy Mumy was half of a fictitious brother duo called Barnes and Barnes, who put out comedy songs that figured prominently on the Dr Demento Show, which was a cult classic weekly show on radio that played these types of songs, and was the first to notice Weird Al Yankovic. The Barnes and Barnes song, "Fishheads" is easily Top 5 all time in that genre, possibly number 1.
Every young boy wanted to be Will Robinson hands down
"You're a bad man! You're a very bad man!"
For comic book fans...he referenced "Legion of Superheroes". That's what the costumes always reminded me of.
Bill Mumy was in The Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, Star Trek DS9 and Babylon 5. Wow! What a resume.
LOL! Bill, I have loved your work for 50+ years, since I was a grade-school kid watching "Lost In Space." Never been an actor (was a standup comic for a while!) but "Bewitched" is a favorite show of mine, and I have twitched my nose at traffic lights! The shows I watched helped inspire me to be a published writer! Thanks, Bill, for your part in this---that was a good thing you did! :)
Billy Munnty is always a great interview. He's generous to other performers but also unflinchingly honest. He has no delusions about himself but is also aware of what he did right in his career.
Bill is intelligent. perceptive, insightful, considerate while remaining truthful, eloquent, and so very generous to his audience. When he mentioned the threatening incidents he's experienced at times it about broke my heart because like anybody else he deserves far better. I'm glad he has so many fond memories and has enjoyed good friends in life, that Hollywood didn't ruin him as it does some child actors, that he's a fellow musician, and that he DOES watch at least some of his own work. I've often thought there would be no greater privilege than to watch a TV episode or film with someone who contributed to making it, and to hear their personal thoughts and insights about that. And interviews like this one come close to making that a reality.
If I'd had the chance to ask Bill a few questions of my own, they would have included:
1. Did you watch your own TV appearances as a kid?
2. Did you ever meet John Williams and what was your personal perception of John's film music as it blossomed through the decades into the enormous legacy we now enjoy?
3. Can you ever transcend your own participation in some project when you watch it later yourself and experience ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE to what your audiences experience? Or can you only be a 'true' audience member if you've not been involved in a project personally?
Best wishes to you, Bill Mumy!
I really loved the movies and TV series of Sunshine with Bill Mumy. Thanks for the pleasure of seeing these shows.
It's good to hear someone had a great experience as a child actor.
This is a great interview Billy Mumy is probably my favorite child actor from my own childhood and as an adult but I didn't know what great adult he turned out to be, that's awesome. Twilight Zone episodes and Lost in Space both awesome shows and great characters! I am 62 today and I still watch both on Antenna and MeTV! I am still watching this interview and I hope he tells us what the Robot was on LIS, was it a person? and the voice for it, and who operated it, etc? I would love to know all that so I could watch it now with that in mind! Thanks Billy for the interview it was great you are truly a pioneer of television when it was great!
I love the Robot and like computers because of the series!
Got to say Lost in Space is my most favorite SIFI series 84 episode with Gilligan's Island my most favorite comedy series 99 episodes. LOVE The Twilight Zone & Outer Limits also. I was born on 6-19-1958 & watched these shows as a kid & LOVE them even today. I LOVE them on DVD. these 4 our my most all time favorites. I did relize how much of a Genius Jonathan Harris was & how much of a genius Bill Mumy was made to be. love all you stars in all 4 of these. you stars made my life all thought out my life as a kid & as an adult. Thank You. today is 10-26-22
A great actor and highly intelligent .
Paul 🙃
Used to enjoy LOST in Space when I was a kid when channel 4 in the UK screened it in 1988
How cool is this!?!...I get to be the 500th person to like this clip...R.I.P.,Bill Mummy
Price 😢
He’s not dead. Just saw a photo of him and his brand new grandson on his Facebook page.
@Pioneers of Television - LOST IN SPACE - loved it as a kid and still do! I have all the episodes on Amazon Prime. Great family oriented, inspiring new scientists, engineers and astronauts! I related a LOT with my physicist and electronics engineer Dad, like William (Bill Mumy) did with his dad - Professor John Robinson. Strong influence on me and the parallelx are amazing!!!!! Then the Apollo 11 landing in 1969 amazing etc. 👍👍👍👍👍
I remember Billy with Jack Klugman in a night shoot, Twilight Zone set in the house of mirrors at Pacific Ocean Park (long gone)...
.
*In Praise Of Pip* (9/27/1963)
_A wearied bookie, learning of his grown soldier son Pip dying in South Vietnam, gets to spend one last delightful hour with a ten-year-old version of him at an amusement park._
Heartbreaking, haunting, unforgettably great TZ......
.
Yes POP! I visited the park about 5 or 6 times in the 60’s, because it lasted only 9 years it takes on an air of mystery and magic that plays in my memories and feelings of nostalgia.
@@aramboodakian9554 I was from the east where all rides were 25 cents and stunned to find that POP was $2.95 and everything was free...
I remember watching that episode wow
He was referring to "Friends " when he said he couldn't believe how much some actors make on a long running series that he didn't think was deserving.
I'd like to think so. I never watched it. I always thought it was just a poor man's Seinfeld. Never could get past the theme song 🤮
The writing on those 50s and 60s shows were generally so good. Compared to what’s on tv now, they were Shakespearean !
I always thought there should have been an episode of BTVS in which Bill Mumy played Oz's dad. It would have been perfect.
Pretty cool. Bill is very talented and it's truly great hearing his analysis and humor about the shows he appeared in. I was 7 years old when Lost in Space first aired in '65. My mom said "there's a new show coming on and I think your going to like it" ... she as so right, it was my favorite show as a kid!
I was 9 years old when Lost in Space first came on TV. My friends and I use to play Lost in Space... everyone wanted to be Will. 😉 Perfect timing for that show to be on the air.
Is this interview really from this year 2022? He should look older!
The impersonation of Johnathan Harris was great! Loved it!
The interview is from circa 2008-11.
What's strange is that his comment at 44:44 about the decline of Comic Conventions makes sense for 2022 (they were nearly all cancelled in 2020 due to COVID and restarted in 2021 to relatively small mask-wearing Vaccination Card carrying temperature-tested crowds) but makes no sense prior to COVID when Comic Conventions were all experiencing consistent growth each year (San Diego Comic Con grew from 40k in 1997 to 120k in 2008 and continued to grow until COVID. In 2022 it was back to its 2019 high of 135k).
What a smart, grounded, likable man.
Pretty decent songwriter & guitar player. Impressive vintage guitar collection!
The dude looks a good 10 to 15 years younger than he is! What's the secret, Billy? Loved him in all 3 Twilight Zones and the AHP episodes (though I know he isn't fond of Hitchy). Keep on rockin, Bill!
One of the best celebrity interviews EVER...Billy is very grounded and articulate.
Billy Mumy is probably one of the few child actors who was extremely well known, even several decades after his best known acting work, who managed to make into adulthood with his life intact. He’s extremely lucky.
Kudos to you,Bill Mumy!👍 Obviously, a well adjusted and well rounded,multi talented,Friendly, Good Apple!!! Thank you for your a performances on the screen and on the stage!
I'd love to meet Bill Mumy one of these days. He's a fabulous guitarist who knows my cousin-in-law, Paul Rock, the founder of the Wild Honey Orchestra in Los Angeles. Here's a great video of Bill's playing the guitar and singing at "The Lovin' Spoonful Tribute Concert" (which took place on 2/29/20 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, California) on Paul's RUclips channel: ruclips.net/video/B4E9o-dOESE/видео.html "Lost in Space" was my favorite show during 1965-68 when it was airing on CBS. At the conclusion of the last rerun of Season 1, when the show came out of the commercial break, it had switched from black-and-white to color. I was so excited that I was shouting, "It's in color! It's in color! It's in color!" My mother ran into the living room, from the kitchen, to see why I was shouting! My friend, Sammy Weintraub, and his family were given a tour of the set of "Lost in Space" by Norman Brokaw during the Summer of 1967. (Norman's wife, at the time, Suzane, was Sammy's cousin.) When Sammy returned to NYC, he was telling me stories about having met alien women with silver skin and big hairdos. The third episode of Season 3, "Kidnapped in Space," was being filmed. It aired on 9/20/67. Sammy and his parents came over to watch the episode on our TV as we had color and they still had black-and-white.
Nice 😊
Thank you Bill fantastic interview I love listening to your memories about your work
Great actor..Good to see he's doing well..❤
Loved him in Lost in Space, Twilight Zone, and Babylon 5.
can't pick a fave, between "It's A Good Life" and, "Long Distance Call", as I love both. He was an excellent child actor and, this was a great interview.
Bill , you Jonathan and the robot were the perfect combo for lost in space . My most favorite show on tv other than Dr who. You have great respect and big upps. Thanks .such special memories .
22:42 When Bill said 'it went on the air in September of 1965...' I said to myself 'Thats right, just a few months after 'Satisfaction' (my all time favorite rock song) was released and then Billy said it himself and, in a so nonchalant way that I had to play it again to see if I actually him right (?) I wouldn't have guessed that Bill / Will would have been aware of the song, figuring he would be more of a Cowsills kind of guy. At the time I considered myself way cooler than Billy, although we were both still in grade school. You're alright after all Bill ! Kidding of course. 'Oh dear, what was I thinking dear boy ?'
Bill and Ron Howard, born only a month apart and no doubt as much a part of my early life as Jagger and company (although the Stones were older and infinitely cooler than all of us put together of course) . Mumy, Howard and Jagger, pop cultural icons all. Hipper than I thought at the time Mr Mumy.
I really enjoyed these interviews.
“Sunshine” was my favorite show in the 70’s. It inspired me to pick up the Guitar.
Thank you Bill.
I hated Billy Mumy for the longest time because of that one Twilight Zone episode. I'm sure you know the one. Ever since DVD commentaries showed the real actor and his views on his career my opinion has completely changed. I really like to watch him now... even that Twilight Zone!
You "hated" him for THAT!?
@@esausjudeannephew6317 I was a kid. Are kids rational?
Absolutely @@Paul-fb1em someone who saw an actor who did such an incredible job being a monster of a child that you as a child were horrified by it. That’s entirely understandable. Then you got to see this excellent actor do another great job playing a very different role that offered you the perspective as an adult of how good he was playing different roles and enabled you at that point to appreciate his talent👍🏻
Some of the greatest acting performances of all time are those that make you respond so viscerally to a character that you never think about the fact that an actor is playing the role.
Actors--and especially GOOD actors must surely realize that when they play admirable or sympathetic characters well that the audience's PERCEPTION of them in 'real life' is still at least partly of their CHARACTER, and that when they play a villain or unsympathetic character well that the entertainment VALUE of that character in the story's overall impact also 'rubs off' on the audience's perception of them, in part, as well? Just think about how much of our perception of Jimmy Stewart is a blend of the many admirable and sympathetic characters he played. TV watchers spend many hours with favorite CHARACTERS that appear on a TV series, so we feel like we 'know' the actors who play them too, even though we really don't, because the faces, voices, and some mannerisms are the same. Surely good actors MUST understand that the audience is 'long-term fooled' by them in this way--to SOME degree--if they've done their job well? That's the inherent nature of the suspension of disbelief experiencing an engaging story, and I suppose it's also part of the trade-off of celebrity for actors.
My sisters would hate it when Billy had another episode. They wan😢ted to see more "Penny" episodes! I as an 8-yr. old boy
just smiled!😂
Wonderful musician as well I watch him on Facebook weekly.
Billy Mumy is one of my main heroes
KID 😎👋
Great interview Bill. You are the real deal.
Thanks for the memories!
I loved him in that episode of Perry Mason!
I just watched him the other day. I believe he was in Dick Powells Four Star theater, if I'm remembering right. It was some show around 1960.
He was so cute and seemed so natural. He steals the scenes in whatever program he's in.
I'm a fan.
There was a Dick Powell's Zane Gray Theatre around that time.
What an extraordinary interview. Thank you.
I saw this guy recently on old re-runs of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" from the 1950's and knew
his face from somewhere. Then it clicked, he was the young boy in "Lost in Space" so when the
credits went up at the end, I found out his name, and Hey Presto he was in that Show. Those
were great Shows back then.
What a great interview! I just read "Its a good life" by Jerome Bixby yesterday morning and immediately remembered that there was a similar Twilight Zone episode. Watched it when I discovered it was the teleplay of the short story. Such a classic story and tv episode. Though there are slight differences, the TZ episode stands on its own and largely because of very young Bill's fine acting. It was a pleasure to hear him say that that was a career highlight. I really enjoyed hearing his thoughts and stories and am glad you posted this for us to watch! Thank you!
It was so hard to wait a week to week for the next show. Loved the show.
What a great interview Billy!
Jonathan Harris said he LOVED hated Billy Mumy because Billy Mumy was such a GREAT kid actor & smith was a really old actor with Billy Mumy not skipping a heart beat & just as GREAT as smith at his age. heheheheHA GREAT JOB Billy, WOW! really!
I SO remember "Romper Room" !
Billy looks great
Don 😬
Bill does a very good Jonathan Harris impression!
Good to see an actor who is also pretty grounded..His thoughts on early television and Rod Serling
I truly appreciate. I'm the same age as Billy and I remember coming out to the living room..way past my bedtime to watch The Twilight Zone,,,great shows..so intelligent..thoughtful..still love them even now.
The Twilight Zone....reminds me of when television was thought provoking,smart and timeless..
Thanks, so good to see Bill has matured so well very down to earth, I really appreciated & liked his stories and impersonation of Jonathan Harris.
Love this ❤️
He never ages
Delby 🙄
Happens to be an episode and character that’s unforgettable.
Love it when Bill imitates Jonathan!
What an awesome interview! His impression of Jonathan Harris is spot on!
I never thought of Lost in Space as science fiction. Always seemed like an adventure series to me.
Bill thank you so much for mentioning Wichita Kansas