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June Lockhart, who died at the age of 100, started her career in movies, but gained recognition after moving almost exclusively to television. Having been given few opportunities to excel in movies from her first appearance as a child in 1938 until 1947, she excelled on TV in many popular series, especially in Lassie.

Her Iconic Role in Lassie

Taking over from another actress in 1958, Lockhart continued in the series until 1964. Her role was Ruth Martin, wed to farmer Paul Martin and the adoptive mother of young Timmy Martin, whose dog was the eponymous star of the series.

Even with playing a housewife, Lockhart skillfully avoided being outshone by the smart animal star. She described the show as “a fairy tale about people on a farm in which the canine solves all the problems in 22 minutes, in time for the last commercial”. After she left the series, Lockhart commented: “In six sexless years of playing a country wife and parent, I was hardly ever permitted to kiss my on-screen husband on the face.”

Starring in Lost in Space

Lockhart went straight into a second successful series, Lost in Space (1965-68), a semi-spoof sci-fi series aimed primarily at children and based by The Swiss Family Robinson. Lockhart and another actor played Maureen and John Robinson, two researchers exploring distant planets. Lockhart had to spend most of her time skillfully trying to navigate visual effects. As the show progressed, the narrative became less and less about this interstellar family and increasingly about the boy and his friendship with a robot, and the timid villain Dr Zachary Smith.

Beginnings in Entertainment

Lockhart’s movie first role, at the young age of 13, had come as Belinda Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1938). In the roles of her mother and father, Bob and Mrs Cratchit, were her actual parents, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. As UK-native Kathleen and Canada-native Gene were both actors in dozens of films, as well as on stage, it was almost certain that June, who was born in New York, would join show business.

Her first theatrical appearance, at the age of six, came in a non-singing role in an opera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York (1931).

Hollywood Career

When her father was offered a deal by a motion picture studio, after his success on Broadway, she relocated with her family to Hollywood, where Gene made around 300 films. After attending school in Beverly Hills, June began her career in movies, mostly in small roles in prestigious pictures such as Sergeant York (1941), The White Cliffs of Dover (1942) and Meet Me in St Louis (1944). In the last one, she is delightful as a New Yorker at a household party, whose schedule is filled maliciously to prevent Lockhart interacting with her brother.

More significantly, although she did not realize it at the time, was Son of Lassie (1945). It was one of multiple sequels to the hugely successful Lassie Come Home (1943), in which another actress had played the girl who helps the dog to return to the family. In the later film, Lockhart played the now adult version.

The affectionate way in which she interacted with both Lassie and her son, Laddie, hero of a wartime adventure in Nazi-occupied Norway, was in the consideration of the creators when it came to casting the Lassie TV series 13 years later.

Shift to Television and Broadway Success

Although she was given leading roles in two suspense films, She-Wolf of London (1946) and Bury Me Dead (1947), Lockhart concluded her film career was getting her nowhere and that TV would be the solution. Before embarking in a new direction, she received acclaim on Broadway in For Love or Money (1947), a humorous play for which she won a Tony award as best newcomer.

A further substantial run came with Petticoat Junction (1968-70), set in a country hotel, where Lockhart is a doctor and mother figure. She also appeared frequently in TV westerns in the 50s, such as Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide. Her busy workload persisted for the next five decades, with a regular role in General Hospital between 1984 and 1998. Among her many guest appearances were as herself in a 1988 episode of a talkshow, where the presenter finds a lost collie, and in another sitcom in 1995 as the parent of a dining manager.

Final Roles and Achievements

Her final TV appearance came in 2021 as the voice of Alpha Control in an episode of a streaming service’s new version of Lost in Space. In the movie version featuring well-known actors (1998), she had a holographic cameo as a school principal. She took pleasure in learning how much of an inspiration the original series had been to later astronauts, and often participated in the organization’s launches and other events. In 2013 her work as a volunteer representative brought her its Exceptional Public Achievement Medal.

Among her limited subsequent feature films was the fantasy, Troll (1986) in which she played a sorceress, with her own daughter, Anne Lockhart, playing her earlier self.

Personal Details

In 1951 she married John Maloney, a doctor and former Navy medical officer. In addition to Anne, they had another daughter, June. That marriage ended in divorce, as did her subsequent marriage, to John Lindsay, an designer.

She is survived by her children and four grandkids.

June Lockhart, actor, born 25 June 1925; died 23 October 2025