A very busy and versatile child actor was Billy Mumy as he was known then. Charles William Bill Mumy, Jr. February 1, 1954, is an American actor, musician, pitchman, instrumentalist, voice-over artist, and a figure in the science-fiction community. He began his professional career at age six, and has worked on more than four hundred television episodes, eighteen films, various commercials, and scores of voice-over work, as well as a musician, songwriter, recording artist and writer. Mumy appeared in CBSs original Twilight Zone (1959 to 1964). In the episode Its a Good Life (November 1961), he played a child who terrorizes his town with psychic powers—a role he later reprised along with his daughter Liliana Mumy in the Its Still a Good Life episode of the second revival series. He also had a cameo in the remake of Its a Good Life in the 3rd segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. Mumy also played young Pip, a boy who enjoyed playing with his father but was frequently ignored, in the episode In Praise of Pip (September 1963), and Billy Bayles, a boy who talks to his dead grandmother through a toy telephone, in the episode Long Distance Call (March 1961). He also wrote the story for the episode Found and Lost in the second Twilight Zone revival. In 1961, Billy was cast on CBSs Alfred Hitchcock Presents television series in The Door Without a Key. The same episode features John Larch, who played his father on the Twilight Zones episode of Its a Good Life. The same year, Mumy starred as little Jackie in the episode Bang! Youre Dead. It featured actress Marta Kristen, who would later play his sister Judy on Lost in Space. Mumy was cast as Mark Murdock in the 1962 episode Keep an Eye on Santa Claus of the ABC drama series Going My Way, starring Gene Kelly as a Roman Catholic priest in New York City and loosely based on the 1944 Bing Crosby film of the same name. His fellow guest stars were Cloris Leachman, Steve Brodie and Frank McHugh.[2] In 1963, at the age of eight, young Mumy appeared in Jack Palances ABC circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth, loosely based on a former Charlton Heston film. He was further cast in 1963 as Miles, a parentless boy, in the Perry Mason episode The Case of the Shifty Shoebox. He portrayed Freddy in the 1963 episode End of an Image on the NBC modern western series Empire, starring Richard Egan as rancher Jim Redigo. In 1964, he was cast as Richard Kimbles nephew in ABCs The Fugitive in the 15th episode entitled Home Is The Hunted; as Barry in the NBC medical drama The Eleventh Hour episode Sunday Father; as himself three times in the ABC sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; in the Disney film For the Love of Willadena; and as a troubled orphan taken home with Darrin and Samantha Stephens in the episode A Vision of Sugarplums of ABCs fantasy sitcom Bewitched (December 1964). Mumy was reportedly the first choice to portray Eddie Munster in the 1964 CBS situation comedy The Munsters, but his parents objected because of the extensive makeup requirements. The role instead went to Butch Patrick. Mumy did appear in one episode as a friend of Eddies. In 1965, he guest starred on an episode of NBCs I Dream of Jeannie Whatever Became Of Baby Custer? as a neighborhood kid who witnesses Jeannies magic. In the same year, he also appeared in an episode of Bewitched entitled Junior Executive, in which he played a young Darrin Stephens. He is perhaps best known for his role as Will Robinson on the CBS science fiction television series Lost in Space (1965–1968), as well as for his role as ambassadorial aide Lennier in the syndicated series Babylon 5 (1994–1998). Mumy has garnered praise from the science fiction fandom for his portrayal of these two characters. In 1996, he was a writer and co-creator of Space Cases, a Nickelodeon television show with themes similar to Lost in Space.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 01:34:10 +0000
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