Bill Mumy Movies

In this emotional romance, the young backwoods girl Tammy lives in a houseboat on the river. She is very sad because she hasn't heard from her college-student boyfriend in ages. Determined to be near him, she cruises her boat down to his university and enrolls. To pay expenses she gets a job. Her new boss is pleased and ends up borrowing Tammy's boat for a short vacation. She then gives the girl an expensive necklace. Tammy soon finds herself pursued by a handsome professor. Later, the niece of Tammy's boss becomes worried at her wealthy aunt's mysterious disappearance and organizes a search party. When she sees Tammy wearing her aunt's necklace, she assumes the worst and has the girl arrested. Later the conniving niece has her aunt tried for mental incompetence. Fortunately, Tammy's pleas are heard by the compassionate judge, her boss is deemed sane, and peace is restored. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Adapted by Rod Serling from a story by Jerome Bixby, "It's a Good Life" stands the test of time as one of the best-ever Twilight Zone episodes -- not to mention one of the series' most frightening efforts. The terrified citizens of Peaksville, Ohio, are held in thrall by a "monster" in the form of angelic-looking youngster Anthony Fremont (Billy Mumy). Possessed with the ability to read minds, coupled with mysterious destructive powers, Anthony bristles whenever he senses that someone is thinking bad thoughts -- and whenever he bristles, something really bad happens (yes, this is the one with the cornfield and the jack-in-the-box). Understandably, this episode has always been a favorite of youngsters, who would give anything to wield Anthony Fremont's awesome powers over their own parents. First telecast November 3, 1961, "It's a Good Life" was later reworked in the 1983 theatrical film Twilight Zone: The Movie -- and a few years after that, it was delightfully lampooned on one of The Simpsons' "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When a drifter named Ray Roscoe (Robert Sterling) saves little Tony Mitchell (Bill Mumy) from drowning, Tony's grateful father, John (MacDonald Carey), invites Ray to stay in his home until he can find a job. John's wife, Sally (Peggy McCay), isn't crazy about this situation, and it soon turns out that Sally's instincts are right: Ray turns out to be a lout, a moocher, and a serial womanizer, with the Mitchells' maid as his latest victim. Understandably, John is anxious to rid himself of Ray as soon as possible -- but he hadn't intended to accidentally kill the man. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Working the late shift at the neighborhood cop shop, beleaguered Captain Shaw (John Larch) finds himself saddled with a pair of lost souls: an old man (Claude Rains) suffering from amnesia and a little boy (Bill Mumy) abandoned by his parents. Instinctively, Shaw is persuaded that the oldster and the youngster belong together -- and in his efforts to expedite this bonding, the lieutenant is in for a surprise. This episode reunites John Larch and Bill Mumy, previously cast as father and son in the chilling Twilight Zone entry "It's a Good Life." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This light romantic comedy filmed on location in Palm Springs finds couples engaging in a kissing frenzy of puppy love. Jim (Troy Donahue) has eyes for Bunny (Stephanie Powers), unaware she is the daughter of the local chief of police (Andrew Duggan). Connie Stevens, Jack Weston, Ty Hardin and Jerry Van Dyke. The Modern Folk Quartet makes an out-of-place appearance performing in a casino. Robert Conrad is the spoiled rotten rich kid who tries to interfere with love and romance with his lupine lusting. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

After a brief flirtation with the 60-minute form, Twilight Zone wisely returned to its original half-hour format with the first episode of the series' fifth season, "In Praise of Pip." Upon learning that his beloved son Pip is dying in a field hospital in South Vietnam, two-bit bookie Max Philips (Jack Klugman) suddenly experiences an epiphany -- which earns him a bullet in the gut from a disgruntled gangster. The wounded Max stumbles into a deserted amusement park, where he is met by the younger version of his boy Pip. Expressing his undying love for his son, Max begs the Powers Above to spare the grown-up Pip's life, as the younger version begins fading into the void. Billy Mumy and Bobby Diamond share the role of the eponymous Pip. Written by Rod Serling, "In Praise of Pip" originally aired September 27, 1963. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Flickenger (Benny Baker) takes no chances in planning the robbery of the trucking company where his sister Sylvia (Constance Ford) works. Unfortunately, he is less careful after the heist, leaving the gun he used to pull off the job within the reach of his nephew Miles (the versatile Billy Mumy)--who promptly hides the weapon where absolutely no one can find it. This proves problematic for Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), who needs the gun to prove that Sylvia is not guilty of the murder of Joe Downing (Ray Teal). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This two-part comedy-drama (made for the Wonderful World of Disney TV series in the early '60s) concerns Michael, a boy from the city whose family moves to the country. His friendship with J.D., a boy who lives on the same street, takes a beating when they both develop a crush on the same girl, Willadean, who also lives in the neighborhood. In the first part, J.D. talks Michael into stealing a prize watermelon, and in the second segment, the boys stake out a haunted house. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

As originally conceived by executive producer Irwin Allen, the weekly, 60-minute Lost in Space was to have been a relatively serious sci-fi opus called The Space Family Robinson. Set in 1997, the series focused on astrophysicist Dr. John Robinson (Guy Williams), his wife, Maureen (June Lockhart); and their children, Judy (Marta Kristen), Will (Bill Mumy), and Penny (Angela Cartwright), all of whom were blasted into space on the "Jupiter II." Placed in suspended animation, the family was on a mission to colonize a planet in the Alpha Centauri star system four light years from Earth. But the Jupiter II's computer malfunctioned, the ship was thrown way off course, and the family woke up several years ahead of schedule to find themselves lost in space. In the series pilot, the main characters were joined by Jupiter II's pilot, Don West (Mark Goddard) -- and no one else. CBS was impressed by Space Family Robinson, but the network insisted upon a title change and also demanded that a villain be added to the proceedings. Thus the project was re-christened Lost in Space, and the pilot episode was reshot so the Jupiter II's malfunction was due to the treachery of an enemy spy named Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), who had sabotaged a robot aboard the ship and programmed it to kill the Robinsons and abort the mission. Unfortunately for Dr. Smith, he was accidentally trapped in the Jupiter II and hurtled into space along with the Robinsons, hence the new title of the pilot show, "The Reluctant Stowaway" (portions of the original pilot, which was top-heavy with expensive special effects, were edited into the series' first five episodes). It had been planned that both Dr. Smith and the killer robot would be eliminated from the series after its inaugural five-episode story arc, but CBS saw potential in both characters and insisted that they be retained.

The network's decision proved to be a brilliant one in terms of the series' ratings: gradually morphing from a cold-hearted assassin to a supercilious, cowardly buffoon, Dr. Smith was easily the show's most popular character -- next to the now-benign robot, who turned out to be a veritable cornucopia of useful technical information and also came in handy when warning the Robinson family of impending danger. Between the Lost in Space pilot and the series proper, it had also been decided to drop the original intention of serializing the episodes, though each installment ended with a coming-attractions "cliffhanger." Finally, what started out as a straightforward, straight-faced endeavor gradually evolved (or, in the minds of less enchanted viewers, devolved) into a semi-humorous exercise in Batman-style camp, replete with such colorful guest villains as a scurvy space pirate (with a robotic parrot), a Brandoesque space-cruising cycle bum, and even a huge talking carrot! The first season, filmed in black-and-white, found the Robinsons stranded on an uncharted planet. The series switched to color for the second season, in which the "Jupiter II" was repaired and the space travelers blasted off -- only to be marooned on another mysterious planet. Season three did a more efficient job of living up to the series' title, as the Jupiter II hopped from planet to planet, galaxy to galaxy, though no closer to "home" than before. The 83 episodes of Lost in Space have flourished in syndication and on such cable-TV services as The Sci-Fi Channel ever since the series' initial CBS run, which lasted from 1965 to 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in black-and-white, the first season of Lost in Space took itself more seriously than subsequent seasons -- at least at the outset. Set in 1997, the series began as the Robinsons, a family of space travelers preparing for a five-year exploratory voyage to the Alpha Centauri star system in the "Jupiter II." Unfortunately, an enemy spy named Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris) intends to sabotage the mission and kill the family, with help of his malevolent robot. But when the Jupiter II blasts off, Dr. Smith is trapped inside the vehicle with his intended victims: Prof. John Robinson (Guy Williams); his wife, Maureen (June Lockhart); his children, Judy (Marta Kristen), Will (Bill Mumy), and Penny (Angela Cartwright), and ship's pilot Don West (Mark Goddard). Thanks to Smith's dirty work, the ship veers way off course to an unchartered planet where the Robinsons et. al. will spend the remainder of the season. It had been intended to kill off both Dr. Smith and the evil robot after the first five-episode story arc; instead, the robot "reforms" and becomes an unending fount of valuable information for the space castaways, periodically bursting forth with cries of "Warning! Warning!" and "Danger! Danger!" and dealing with matters beyond his ken by muttering metallically, "That does not compute." As for Smith, he evolves from snarling villain to cowardly buffoon, whom the others inexplicably tolerate, even though Smith's perfidy and duplicity causes nothing but trouble for them. The notion to "serialize" the episodes is dropped early on in favor of self-contained stories, though each episode ends with a cliff-hanging preview of the following week's installment. Unlike the next two seasons of Lost in Space, guest stars are kept at a minimum during season one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Child actor Billy Mumy, who ironically had been the Munsters producers' first choice for the role of Eddie Munster, guests in this episode as Eddie's bratty new friend Googie Miller. After pulling off a wide variety of practical jokes on Eddie (Butch Patrick) and his family, Googie caps his deviltry by convincing everyone that Grandpa (Al Lewis) has turned him into a chimpanzee. What results is a comedy of errors that has the whole family--and Googie's family--going "ape". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Switching from black-and-white to color for its second season, Lost in Space also abandons all pretense of being a serious space opera, opting instead for the "camp" approach popularized by the previous season's big TV hit Batman. As a result, the Space Family Robinson (Guy Williams, June Lockhart, Marta Kristen, Bill Mumy, and Angela Cartwright), their pilot Don West (Mark Goddard), duplicitous and cowardly stowaway Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and the steadfast Robot are visited by a cornucopia of outrageous characters ranging from a clumsy magician (played by "Grandpa Munster" himself, Al Lewis) to a misplaced Don Quixote type (Hans Conried) to a scurvy space pirate (Albert Salmi) -- complete with a robot parrot on his shoulder! In keeping with the general frivolity, Dr. Smith has become a much broader and more clownish figure, utterly divesting himself of the cold-blooded villainy he briefly displayed at the beginning of season one. Having spent all of the past season on a single planet, the travelers manage to get the Jupiter II in working order, blasting off into the void again -- only to be marooned on still another uncharted world! Of the 30 episodes telecast during season two, several stand out, among them "The Golden Man," a well-intentioned if a bit heavy-handed lesson in tolerance and "appearances are deceiving"; and "A Trip Through the Robot," wherein a miniaturized Will Robinson (Bill Mumy) and Dr. Smith embark upon a "fantastic voyage" to repair the robot's damaged innards. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rascal, the Sterling North novel that has been a longtime fixture of Scholastic Magazine book clubs, was given Tiffany treatment by the Disney studios in 1969. Bill Mumy plays young Sterling North, whose Wisconsin childhood is enriched through his friendship with a stray raccoon. Though lacking the emotional depth of the novel, the film is distinguished by the lovingly detailed outdoor photography that has always been a Disney hallmark. Likewise a "regular" in the Disney canon are scenes of animals wreaking comic destruction and wild chase sequences, and Rascal does not flag when offering these. A favorite of the Saturday matinee circuit, Rascal has in recent years become a standard weekend TV offering whenever a sports event is rained out or otherwise delayed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide