Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Gort
The Day the Earth Stood Still character
Gort firing beam weapon.
First appearance	"Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates (1940)
Created by	Harry Bates
Portrayed by	Lock Martin (1951)
Information
Species	Humanoid robot

Gort is a fictional humanoid robot that first appeared in the 1951 20th Century Fox American science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still and years later in its 2008 remake.

In the original science fiction short story "Farewell to the Master", on which the two films are based, the character is called Gnut.

The eight-foot metal robot accompanies Klaatu, a visitor to Earth from an unnamed, distant planet, aboard a flying saucer. He does not speak, but uses a laserlike weapon projected from beneath a head visor to vaporize weapons and other physical obstacles. Klaatu describes "him" as one of an interstellar police force, holding irrevocable powers to "preserve the peace" by destroying any aggressor.

The character was loosely based on Gnut, in "Farewell to the Master", a 1940 Astounding Science Fiction short story written by Harry Bates, used as the basis for Edmund H. North's screenplay. In that story Gnut is a moving green statue apparently attendant upon Klaatu, but identified, in the terminus of the story, as the eponymous "master" over Klaatu.

On screen, Gort is a large, seamless robot apparently constructed from a single piece of "flexible metal". He was portrayed by seven-foot, seven-inch (231 cm)-tall actor Lock Martin wearing a thick foam-rubber suit designed and built by Addison Hehr. Two suits were created, fastened alternately from the front or back so that the robot would appear seamless from any angle in the completed scenes. A fiberglass statue of Gort was also used for the close-ups of the firing of his energy beam weapon or when a scene did not require that he move. To maximize the height of the robot, the Gort suit was made with lifts in the boots so that Martin could see forward through the suit's visor area during certain shots; air holes were provided under the robot's wide chin and jaw, and these can be seen in several close-ups of Gort's head.