Gary Lockwood

Gary Lockwood, born John Gary Yurosek on February 21, 1937, in Van Nuys, California, is an American actor of partial Polish descent. His uncle, Mike Yurosek, is credited with inventing baby-cut carrots. Before pursuing acting, Lockwood played football at UCLA under coach Red Sanders, earning a one-year letter in 1956 and appearing in official athletics records under his birth name, Gary Yurosek.

Lockwood began his entertainment career as a film stuntman and a stand-in for Anthony Perkins. His first screen appearance came in 1959 in an uncredited bit part in Warlock, and that same year he had an uncredited role as a police officer in the Perry Mason episode "The Case of the Romantic Rogue." His Broadway career began in 1960, when he appeared in the play There Was a Little Girl. His credited film debut came in Wild in the Country (1961), opposite Elvis Presley and Tuesday Weld, and he took his first lead film role that same year in The Magic Sword, written and directed by Bert I. Gordon. He also appeared in a supporting capacity in Splendor in the Grass (1961) and in the ABC series Bus Stop (1961). In 1962, he returned to Perry Mason in a lead role in "The Case of the Playboy Pugilist," and in 1963 he co-starred with Elvis Presley again in the musical-comedy It Happened at the World's Fair.

Two early television series defined the first phase of his career, each running a single season. In ABC's Follow the Sun (1961–62), set in Hawaii, Lockwood played Eric Jason, a researcher supporting two magazine writers portrayed by Brett Halsey and Barry Coe. His more prominent series role came with NBC's The Lieutenant (1963–64), in which he played William T. Rice, a young Marine second lieutenant navigating peacetime military life. The drama was produced by Gene Roddenberry and Norman Felton, the respective creators of Star Trek and The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and co-starred Robert Vaughn as Rice's superior officer, Captain Raymond Rambridge. Despite receiving moderately good reviews, the series was cancelled after 29 episodes, in part due to competition from CBS's Jackie Gleason's American Scene Magazine.

Lockwood's association with Gene Roddenberry continued when he was cast as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell in the second Star Trek pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (1965), alongside Sally Kellerman, with whom he had recently worked on an episode of The Kraft Mystery Theater. The characters they played develop dangerous superhuman abilities over the course of the episode. In 2024, Lockwood reprised the role of Gary Mitchell in OTOY's short film 765874 – Unification, which used digital technology to recreate his 1966 appearance.

His film work in the late 1960s produced some of his most enduring screen credits. He co-starred with Elke Sommer in the crime drama They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968) and then appeared as astronaut Frank Poole in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a role for which he remains widely recognized. The following year he led Model Shop (1969), the sole American film by French New Wave director Jacques Demy. He later appeared opposite Jacqueline Bisset in the comedy Stand Up and Be Counted (1972).

Throughout the 1960s and into the mid-1990s, Lockwood accumulated an extensive list of television guest appearances. He appeared in multiple episodes of 12 O'Clock High, playing Major Gus Denver in season one and Lieutenant Josh McGraw in season two. In 1966, he starred in a two-part Gunsmoke episode titled "The Raid," alongside John Anderson, Michael Conrad, Jim Davis, and Richard Jaeckel. He also co-starred with Stefanie Powers in an episode of ABC's Love, American Style and later appeared with Powers and Robert Wagner in a 1983 episode of Hart to Hart. His television work additionally included the CBS family drama Three for the Road (1975) and multiple appearances on Barnaby Jones. Between 1959 and 2004, he accumulated roles in approximately 40 theatrical features and television movies and around 80 guest television appearances.

In his personal life, Lockwood married actress Stefanie Powers in 1966; the couple divorced in 1972. He married actress and businesswoman Denise DuBarry in 1982, and together they have a daughter, Samantha DuBarry-Lockwood, born in 1982.