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Starting her career in cinema, June Lockhart, who died aged 100, achieved her biggest success after switching predominantly to the small screen. Having been offered few opportunities to shine in films from her first appearance as a youngster in 1938 until 1947, she excelled on television in many beloved series, especially in Lassie.

Her Iconic Role in Lassie

Stepping in from another actress in 1958, Lockhart remained in the show until 1964. Her role was Ruth Martin, wed to farmer Paul Martin and the foster mother of young Timmy Martin, whose dog was the titular star of the series.

Even with playing a housewife, Lockhart adeptly avoided being outshone by the brilliant dog. She described the program as “a fantasy about people on a farm in which the canine resolves all the problems in 22 minutes, in time for the last advertisement”. After she departed the show, Lockhart commented: “In six chaste years of playing a rural wife and mother, I was hardly ever permitted to kiss my on-screen husband on the cheek.”

Journey into Lost in Space

Lockhart went directly into a second hit, Lost in Space (1965-68), a partly comedic sci-fi series targeted mostly at young audiences and based by The Swiss Family Robinson. Lockhart and her co-star portrayed Maureen and John Robinson, two researchers exploring distant planets. Lockhart had to spend most of her time skillfully trying to survive visual effects. As the series progressed, the narrative became increasingly less about this interstellar family and increasingly about the young son and his bond with a robot, and the cowardly antagonist Dr Zachary Smith.

Beginnings in Entertainment

Lockhart’s feature film 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 British-born Kathleen and Canadian-born Gene were both performers in many of movies, as well as on stage, it was nearly certain that June, who was born in New York, would enter show business.

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

Move to Hollywood and Movie Roles

When her father was given a contract by a motion picture studio, after his success on Broadway, she moved with her family to Hollywood, where Gene made around 300 films. After going to school in Beverly Hills, June started her career in films, mainly in small roles in acclaimed 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 filled maliciously to stop Lockhart dancing with her brother.

More significantly, although she did not know it at the time, was Son of Lassie (1945). It was one of multiple sequels to the extremely successful Lassie Come Home (1943), in which another actress had played the girl who helps the canine to return to the owners. In the subsequent film, Lockhart played the now grown-up version.

The loving way in which she handled both Lassie and her offspring, Laddie, hero of a wartime story in enemy-held Norway, was in the consideration of the producers when it came to selecting the Lassie TV series 13 years later.

Transition to Television and Broadway Success

Although she was offered leading roles in two thrillers, She-Wolf of London (1946) and Bury Me Dead (1947), Lockhart decided her movie career was getting her nowhere and that TV would be the answer. Before embarking in a different direction, she received acclaim on Broadway in For Love or Money (1947), a comedy 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 cowboy shows in the 50s, such as Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide. Her hectic workload persisted for the following five decades, with a recurring role in General Hospital between 1984 and 1998. Among her many guest appearances were as herself in a 1988 episode of a comedy series, where the host finds a lost collie, and in another sitcom in 1995 as the mother of a restaurant manager.

Final Roles and Contributions

Her last TV credit 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 big screen version starring famous actors (1998), she had a holographic cameo as a school principal. She took joy in learning how much of an influence the original series had been to later astronauts, and often participated in the agency’s launches and other events. In 2013 her work as a unpaid spokesperson brought her its Exceptional Public Achievement Medal.

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

Personal Details

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

She is survived by her children and four grandchildren.

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