Gary Lockwood makes trained, capable men convincing without asking us to like them. We value his restraint, especially in 2001: A Space Odyssey, though the same reserve can leave us knowing the job better than the person.
Fi1m perspective
In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Gary Lockwood's Dr. Frank Poole gives little away beyond his professional manner. Stanley Kubrick makes good use of that restraint, placing him alongside Keir Dullea's equally reserved Dr. David Bowman. We accept these men as astronauts without being invited to feel particularly close to them. Lockwood does not strain to make Poole more agreeable, or add a show of feeling to reassure us that something is happening underneath. That is useful acting in a film prepared to let its people remain difficult company.
He had already taken the title role in Gene Roddenberry's The Lieutenant (1963), before playing Gary Mitchell in the second Star Trek pilot (1966). Those parts suited an actor whose athletic build could establish authority before he had done much else. Jacques Demy's Model Shop (1969) gave him a film lead as George Matthews. Thereafter, television guest work became the main business, often as villains or gruff men in westerns and police programmes. That is a substantial working career, though it offers fewer sustained leading roles through which to follow his development.
Back in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Douglas Rain's HAL 9000 is the more absorbing personality, and that might look like a poor result for the actors we can actually see. Lockwood and Dullea have a different task. Their reserve makes the computer's courteous voice seem unusually companionable, while keeping the astronauts credible as men doing a job. We found that difference unsettling: HAL invites our trust more readily than Poole invites our affection. Lockwood's willingness to stay remote helps Kubrick achieve it.
The limitation is that we know Poole's professional manner better than we know him, and restraint alone cannot make up the difference. Anyone looking for warmth from the human crew will find this a difficult performance to enjoy. Here, though, Lockwood's quietness has a clear purpose, and his lack of fuss is worth watching closely. Start with 2001: A Space Odyssey, and allow him the same patience the film asks for.
Biography
Gary Lockwood is an American actor born John Gary Yurosek on 21 February 1937 in Van Nuys, California. He attended UCLA on a football scholarship and began his career as a stuntman and stand-in before making his acting debut in the late 1950s.
Lockwood is known for his role as Dr Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and as Lieutenant Commander Gary Mitchell in the Star Trek episode 'Where No Man Has Gone Before' (1966). He has appeared in numerous films and television series, including Splendor in the Grass (1961), The Lieutenant (1963–1964), and guest roles in shows such as Mission: Impossible and Murder, She Wrote. He has been married twice, to actresses Stefanie Powers and Denise DuBarry, and has a daughter, actress Samantha Lockwood.
