Dr. Loveless

Michael Dunn as Dr. Loveless

Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless is a fictional character, a villain on the 1960s television series The Wild Wild West. He is a brilliant (though insane) dwarf portrayed by Michael Dunn.^[1] As a mad scientist, and the arch-enemy of Secret Service agents James West and Artemus Gordon, Dr. Loveless was involved in numerous plots which were always foiled by West and Gordon. In total, the character appeared in ten episodes. He was always prepared with an escape plan.

In the series he was from a family which had received a valuable land grant in California from the government of the Viceroy of Mexico under Spain. Their family had then lost it when Mexico lost California to the United States. His original goal seems to have been recovery of his family's property; as the series progressed, however, he became more and more megalomaniacal. His original goals were in fact quite philanthropic; with his returned land he professed plans to create a haven for disadvantaged (presumably financially and like himself, physically) could live unfettered by worry and strife.

Loveless was introduced in the 1965 episode "The Night the Wizard Shook The Earth," which was the show's third televised episode (although it was produced sixth). He was known as a technological genius, producing gadgets far ahead of his time.

According to the 1979 TV movie The Wild Wild West Revisited, in 1880, Loveless eventually died from anger and frustration at having his plans consistently ruined by West and Gordon. (Michael Dunn died in 1973.) As a result, Loveless' son Michelito (played by Paul Williams) subsequently seeks revenge on the agents.^[2]

Accomplices

Dr. Loveless initially had two constant companions, the gigantic Voltaire (played by real-life giant Richard Kiel) and the beautiful songstress Antoinette (portrayed by Dunn's nightclub-act singing partner Phoebe Dorin). Voltaire disappeared after the doctor's third encounter with the agents; Antoinette, after the sixth. However, they each left such an indelible impression on fans that the 1990 comic book miniseries from Millennium Publications, a sequel to rather than an adaptation of the TV program scripted by Mark Ellis with art by Darryl Banks, included both characters.

Other versions

The character of Loveless was adapted for the 1999 feature film Wild Wild West as Dr. Arliss Loveless, played by Kenneth Branagh.^[3] Branagh's version is shown (using special effects) as an amputee who uses a wheelchair and similar innovative contraptions. Branagh's Loveless was a former Confederate military engineer, who lost most of his lower body in an accidental explosion; he was incensed at the South's surrender and sought to, in revenge, overthrow the United States and partition it back to the European nations that colonized the country, with Loveless getting keeping the Northern Plains for himself.

Notes

1. ^ Cast of The Wild Wild West at the Internet Movie Database
2. ^ The Wild Wild West Revisited at the Internet Movie Database
3. ^ Wild Wild West (1999) at the Internet Movie Database