Gary Lockwood (born John Gary Yusolfsky on February 21, 1937, in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley of southern California) is an American actor who is probably best known for his 1968 role as the astronaut Dr. Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
A familiar face to film and television audiences for nearly a half century, Lockwood was a movie stuntman and stand-in for Anthony Perkins prior to his acting debut in 1959 in an uncredited bit role in Warlock.
Lockwood's two series came early in his career, and each lasted only a single season. ABC's Hawaii-set Follow the Sun in 1961-1962 cast him in support of Brett Halsey and Barry Coe, who played adventurous magazine writers based in Honolulu. Lockwood was Eric Jason, who did the legwork for their articles, but his on-screen time was limited since most of the plot focused on Halsey or Coe. In the story, Lockwood was said to have been born on December 7, 1941 (Pearl Harbor Day), but he was actually born nearly five years earlier.
In 1963-1964, Lockwood starred as a handsome young Marine second lieutenant named William "Bill" Rice in the NBC series The Lieutenant. The drama about the peacetime military was produced by future Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, and later Man from U.N.C.L.E. creator Norman Felton. The series co-starred Robert Vaughn as Lieutenant Rice's immediate superior, Captain Raymond Rambridge. Despite moderately good reviews, The Lieutenant's Saturday time slot opposite CBS's blockbuster Jackie Gleason's American Scene Magazine caused its cancellation after twenty-nine episodes.
Lockwood's other notable television work includes playing Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell in Where No Man Has Gone Before, (filmed as the second pilot, but broadcast as the third episode) of Star Trek. He also co-starred with Stefanie Powers, his wife at the time, in a memorable episode of ABC's Love, American Style as a newlywed who gets his mouth stuck around a doorknob.
Between 1959 and 2006, Gary Lockwood had roles in some forty theatrical and made-for-TV features and made almost eighty TV guest appearances, including several as a villain on CBS's Barnaby Jones starring Buddy Ebsen.
Gary Lockwood also used the name Gary Yurosek.
