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June Lockhart, who died at the remarkable age of 100, began her career in movies, but achieved fame after moving almost exclusively to TV. Having been offered few chances to excel in movies from her debut as a youngster in 1938 until 1947, she excelled on TV in many popular series, especially in Lassie.

Her Iconic Role in Lassie

Stepping in from a previous star in 1958, Lockhart continued in the show until 1964. Her role was Ruth Martin, married to agriculturalist Paul Martin and the foster mother of young Timmy Martin, whose dog was the titular star of the series.

In her role as a housewife, Lockhart somehow managed to avoid being totally overshadowed by the intelligent canine. She characterized the program as “a fairy tale about people on a farm in which the dog resolves all the problems in 22 minutes, in time for the last commercial”. After she left the show, Lockhart remarked: “In six chaste years of playing a country wife and mother, I was hardly ever allowed to kiss my co-star on the face.”

Adventure into Lost in Space

Lockhart went straight into another successful series, Lost in Space (1965-68), a semi-spoof science fiction series targeted mostly at children and based by The Swiss Family Robinson. Lockhart and her co-star portrayed Maureen and John Robinson, two researchers investigating alien planets. Lockhart had to spend most of her time skillfully trying to survive special effects. As the series progressed, the narrative became increasingly less about this space family and more about the boy and his bond with a mechanical being, and the timid villain Dr Zachary Smith.

Start in Show Business

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

Her first stage performance, 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 given a deal by a film studio, after his success on Broadway, she moved with her parents to Hollywood, where Gene made around 300 films. After attending school in Beverly Hills, June began her professional life in films, 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 latter, she is charming as a New Yorker at a family party, whose schedule is arranged maliciously to prevent Lockhart dancing with her sibling.

More importantly, although she did not know it at the time, was Son of Lassie (1945). It was one of several sequels to the extremely successful Lassie Come Home (1943), in which a young star had played the girl who helps the canine to escape to the family. In the subsequent film, Lockhart played the now grown-up character.

The loving way in which she handled both Lassie and her offspring, Laddie, hero of a World War II story in Nazi-occupied Norway, was in the minds of the creators when it came to selecting the Lassie TV series 13 years later.

Television and Theater Work

Although she was given major roles in two suspense films, She-Wolf of London (1946) and Bury Me Dead (1947), Lockhart decided her movie career was stagnating and that television would be the solution. Before going in a new direction, she received acclaim on Broadway in For Love or Money (1947), a comedy for which she won a Tony award as most promising newcomer.

A additional significant run came with Petticoat Junction (1968-70), set in a country hotel, where Lockhart is a doctor and maternal character. 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 stray collie, and in another sitcom in 1995 as the mother of a restaurant manager.

Final Career and Impact

Her last TV credit came in 2021 as the voice of Alpha Control in an episode of a digital platform’s remake of Lost in Space. In the movie version featuring famous actors (1998), she had a digital cameo as a school principal. She took joy in learning how much of an influence the first series had been to future astronauts, and often attended the agency’s launches and other events. In 2013 her work as a volunteer spokesperson brought her its Exceptional Public Achievement Medal.

Among her limited subsequent feature films was the fantasy, Troll (1986) in which she played a witch, 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 second marriage, to John Lindsay, an designer.

She is survived by her children and four grandkids.

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