RIP: Lock Martin.

Artie

Super Member
Just to be clear, he died in 1959. It's not like it happened yesterday. But I was just thinking about him. Lock Martin was the robot in the original movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still." He was 7' 7". That's frigging 15" taller than Magic Johnson.

I was just thinking about this because we just watched that old movie.

Artie
 
Magic was 6'9" tall.

I never knew the name or story of this guy, just did a little digging. Interesting..

bs
 
Further trivia: He was an usher at the Chinese Theater in LA when he was tapped to be Gort. The same condition that made him so tall also left him weakened. All the scenes where he appeared to carry Patricia Neal, she was on a gurney; there were two robot suits, one with a zipper in front, one in back, so they could shoot from opposite directions.

Cheers,
Larry B.
 
Also, the Gort head he wore had holes in the underside of the chin. Thats how he could see out. It was a parascope sort of thing, since his head only went up to the neck of the costume. The Day the Earth Stood Still is about my favorite movie. Robert Wise, the director shot TDTESS with the tone of a drama, not as some schlock sci-fi movie. Wise is a director who tried NOT to leave a footprint on his films like some other directors. He came out of retirement to try and fix Star Trek - The Motion Picture. He also directed Sound Of Music. Wise worked as a film editor for Orson Welles.
 
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