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Launching her career in cinema, June Lockhart, who passed on aged 100, found her biggest success after switching largely to television. Having been offered few chances to shine in movies from her first appearance as a child in 1938 until 1947, she thrived on television in many popular series, especially in Lassie.

Her Memorable Role in Lassie

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

Even with playing a mother figure, Lockhart skillfully avoided being outshone by the smart dog. She characterized the show as “a fantasy about people on a rural property in which the dog solves all the issues in 22 minutes, in time for the last advertisement”. After she departed the show, Lockhart commented: “In six chaste years of playing a country spouse and parent, I was hardly ever allowed to peck my on-screen husband on the cheek.”

Featuring in Lost in Space

Lockhart went straight into a second successful series, Lost in Space (1965-68), a semi-spoof sci-fi series aimed mostly at young audiences and inspired by The Swiss Family Robinson. Lockhart and another actor portrayed Maureen and John Robinson, two researchers exploring alien planets. Lockhart had to spend most of her time skillfully trying to navigate special effects. As the series continued, the narrative became less and less about this interstellar clan and more about the young son and his friendship with a robot, and the timid villain Dr Zachary Smith.

Start in Entertainment

Lockhart’s movie debut, 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 Canada-native Gene were both actors in dozens of movies, as well as on theater, it was nearly inevitable that June, who was born in New York, would enter show business.

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

Hollywood Work

When her parent was given a deal by a film studio, after his acclaim on Broadway, she relocated with her family to Hollywood, where Gene made around 300 films. After going to school in Beverly Hills, June began her professional life in movies, mainly in minor roles in acclaimed 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 family party, whose schedule is filled spitefully to stop Lockhart interacting with her sibling.

More importantly, although she did not realize it at the time, was Son of Lassie (1945). It was one of multiple follow-ups to the extremely successful Lassie Come Home (1943), in which another actress had played the female character who assists the canine to escape 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 son, Laddie, hero of a World War II adventure in Nazi-occupied Norway, was in the minds of the producers when it came to selecting the Lassie TV series 13 years later.

TV and Theater Work

Although she was offered major roles in two suspense films, She-Wolf of London (1946) and Bury Me Dead (1947), Lockhart concluded her film career was stagnating and that television would be the solution. Before embarking in a new 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 additional 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 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 host finds a stray collie, and in another sitcom in 1995 as the mother of a restaurant manager.

Final Roles and Achievements

Her final 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 starring well-known actors (1998), she had a holographic cameo as a school principal. She took pleasure in learning how much of an influence the original series had been to future astronauts, and often attended the organization’s launches and other events. In 2013 her work as a volunteer spokesperson 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 earlier self.

Personal Details

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

She is survived by her children and four grandchildren.

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