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Starting her career in cinema, June Lockhart, who died aged 100, achieved her greatest success after shifting predominantly to the small screen. Having been given limited opportunities to excel in films from her first appearance 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. She played Ruth Martin, married to farmer Paul Martin and the foster mother of seven-year-old Timmy Martin, whose dog was the titular star of the series.

In her role as a housewife, Lockhart somehow succeeded to avoid being completely overshadowed by the intelligent dog. She described the show as “a fantasy about people on a rural property in which the canine resolves all the issues in 22 minutes, in time for the last advertisement”. After she left the series, Lockhart remarked: “In six sexless years of playing a rural wife and parent, I was rarely allowed to kiss my on-screen husband on the face.”

Starring in Lost in Space

Lockhart went straight into a second hit, Lost in Space (1965-68), a partly comedic science fiction series targeted mostly at young audiences and based by The Swiss Family Robinson. Lockhart and her co-star portrayed Maureen and John Robinson, two scientists exploring distant planets. Lockhart had to spend most of her time skillfully trying to navigate special effects. As the series continued, the narrative became increasingly less about this interstellar family and more about the boy and his friendship with a mechanical being, and the cowardly villain Dr Zachary Smith.

Early Career and Family Background

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 mother and father, Bob and Mrs Cratchit, were her actual parents, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. As British-born Kathleen and Canada-native Gene were both actors in dozens of films, as well as on theater, it was nearly certain that June, who was born in New York, would join the entertainment industry.

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

Hollywood Work

When her father was given a deal by a motion picture studio, after his success on Broadway, she relocated with her parents to Hollywood, where Gene made approximately 300 films. After going to school in Beverly Hills, June started her professional life in movies, 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 last one, she is delightful as a New Yorker at a household party, whose schedule is arranged spitefully to prevent 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 follow-ups to the hugely successful Lassie Come Home (1943), in which another actress had played the female character who assists the canine to escape to the family. In the later film, Lockhart played the now grown-up character.

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

Transition to Television and Stage Success

Although she was offered leading roles in two suspense films, She-Wolf of London (1946) and Bury Me Dead (1947), Lockhart concluded her film career was stagnating and that TV would be the answer. Before going in a different direction, she won praise 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 rural hotel, where Lockhart is a physician and maternal character. She also featured frequently in TV westerns in the 50s, such as Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, and Rawhide. Her hectic workload persisted for the next five decades, with a recurring role in General Hospital between 1984 and 1998. Among her many guest appearances were as the actress 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 dining manager.

Later Career and Impact

Her last TV credit came in 2021 as the voice of Alpha Control in an episode of a streaming service’s remake of Lost in Space. In the big screen version featuring famous actors (1998), she had a holographic cameo as a school principal. She took pleasure in learning how much of an inspiration the first series had been to later astronauts, and often attended the agency’s launches and other events. In 2013 her work as a volunteer representative brought her its Exceptional Public Achievement Medal.

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

Private 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 architect.

She is remembered by her daughters and four grandkids.

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