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June Lockhart, who passed away at the remarkable age of 100, started her career in films, but achieved recognition after moving almost entirely to TV. Having been offered few chances to excel in films from her first appearance as a youngster in 1938 until 1947, she excelled on TV in many beloved series, especially in Lassie.

Her Iconic Role in Lassie

Stepping in from another actress in 1958, Lockhart remained in the series until 1964. She played Ruth Martin, wed to farmer Paul Martin and the foster mother of seven-year-old Timmy Martin, whose collie was the eponymous star of the series.

In her role as a housewife, Lockhart somehow succeeded to avoid being completely overshadowed by the intelligent canine. She described the show as “a fairy tale about families on a rural property in which the canine solves all the issues in 22 minutes, in time for the last advertisement”. After she left the series, Lockhart commented: “In six sexless years of playing a rural spouse and mother, I was rarely allowed to peck my on-screen husband on the cheek.”

Starring in Lost in Space

Lockhart went directly into another successful series, Lost in Space (1965-68), a semi-spoof sci-fi series aimed mostly at children and based by The Swiss Family Robinson. Lockhart and her co-star played Maureen and John Robinson, two scientists exploring alien planets. Lockhart had to spend the majority of her time deftly trying to navigate visual effects. As the series continued, the narrative became increasingly less about this space family and increasingly about the young son and his bond with a robot, and the cowardly antagonist Dr Zachary Smith.

Start in Show Business

Lockhart’s movie debut, at the age of 13, had come as Belinda Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1938). In the parts of her mother and father, Bob and Mrs Cratchit, were her real-life parents, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. As British-born Kathleen and Canadian-born Gene were both performers in dozens of films, as well as on theater, it was almost certain that June, who was born in New York, would join the entertainment industry.

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

Hollywood Career

When her parent was offered a contract by a motion picture studio, after his success on Broadway, she moved with her parents to Hollywood, where Gene made around 300 films. After going to school in Beverly Hills, June started her professional life in films, mainly 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 delightful as a New Yorker at a household party, whose schedule is arranged maliciously to stop Lockhart interacting with her sibling.

More significantly, although she did not know it at the time, was Son of Lassie (1945). It was one of several sequels to the hugely successful Lassie Come Home (1943), in which a young star had played the girl who assists the dog to escape to the owners. In the later film, Lockhart played the now grown-up version.

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

TV and Theater Career

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

A additional substantial run came with Petticoat Junction (1968-70), set in a country hotel, where Lockhart is a doctor and maternal character. She also appeared regularly in TV cowboy shows in the 50s, such as Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide. Her busy schedule continued for the next five decades, with a regular role in General Hospital between 1984 and 1998. Among her many one-off appearances were as the actress 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 restaurant manager.

Final Career and Impact

Her last TV credit came in 2021 as the narration of Alpha Control in an episode of a digital platform’s remake of Lost in Space. In the big screen version featuring well-known actors (1998), she had a digital cameo as a school principal. She took pleasure in learning how much of an influence the first series had been to later astronauts, and often attended the organization’s launches and other events. In 2013 her work as a unpaid representative brought her its prestigious award.

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

Personal Details

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

She is remembered by her children and four grandchildren.

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