Bob May, The Robot, Is Dead

BEING A YOUNG boy in the late eighties meant a number of things: Thundercats, BMX, Lego pirates, wishing Theo from The Cosby Show was my big brother (er... was that just me?) and lazy Sunday afternoons watching knackered old American science fiction shows like The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants and Lost In Space. Except to an eight your old they weren't knackered, they were imaginative and a little magical. Kids don't really pick up on things like lazy plotting, dubious acting and increasinly dodgy special effects (unless a mean-spirited adult points them out and shatters the illusion...) Bob May was the actor who played the Robot in Lost In Space, commonly referred to as a "bubble-headed booby" by the deliciously camp Dr Smith (the Robot that is, not Bob May). "He always said he got the job because he fit in the robot suit," said June Lockhart, who played all-American mom Maureen Robinson in the show. "It was one of those wonderful Hollywood stories. He just happened to be on the studio lot when someone saw him and sent him to see Irwin Allen about the part. Allen said, 'If you can fit in the suit you've got the job." Bob May passed away on Sunday. He was 69. Thanks for the memories, Mr May. This eight year old loved you.