Marta Kristen of the hit ’60s show Lost in Space recalls the moment she heard that the series was ending. The show aired from 1965 until 1968, along with other co-stars Bill Mumy and Angela Cartwright. It was Kristen that recently sat down with Fox News for an in-depth interview about the show, including how she got the role of Judy Robinson, the moment she learned the show was ending, and much more.
Kristen was actually pretty hesitant about wanting to do the show. “I wanted to go to New York and do theater,” was her reasoning, “That was always my first love. But people were telling me, “Are you crazy? This is a golden opportunity to do a show that will not only make your career but make television history.” So after thinking about it for two weeks, I decided to give it a chance.”
Marta Kristen remembers the show and her co-stars so fondly
Did you know that Kristen was also up for a role in The Sound of Music, the film that Cartwright is arguably best known for? “I was tested for it,” Kristen reveals, “but I was told that I was too sexy for it. I never saw myself as that. I always thought of myself as a Norwegian Midwesterner *laughs*.”
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Kristen also confirms that she has a really good relationship with her other Lost in Space co-stars to this day, aside from Mumy and Cartwright. “I love each and every one of them. Guy [Williams] was a great gentleman and a teacher of music. He always had this magnificent classical music coming out from his dressing room. June [Lockhart] taught me killer Scrabble *laughs*… She’s an extraordinary woman who is so accomplished.”
When asked how she coped with the show ending, she said, “Oh, I remember that moment vividly. I was at my house and I received a phone call. I learned it was canceled. I was speechless. No one really knew why.” She adds, “Later on, we found out that it was possibly Irwin’s battle with CBS at the time. He wasn’t giving the scripts that CBS demanded. And they wanted six of them, apparently, or something like that.”
When the show was officially canceled
“I think everyone has a different version of the story. But at that time, Irwin [creator of the show] just had so many projects. And I guess he just thought it wasn’t worth the fight. So it was canceled. And it was unusual because we were doing very well in the ratings. We had a very large fan base even then. But it was an expensive show.”
Check out our very own deep dive of the cast of Lost in Space below: