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Starting her career in cinema, June Lockhart, who died aged 100, found her biggest success after shifting largely to the small screen. Having been offered few opportunities to excel in movies from her debut as a youngster in 1938 until 1947, she thrived on television in many beloved series, most notably in Lassie.

Her Iconic Role in Lassie

Taking over from a previous star in 1958, Lockhart continued in the show until 1964. She played Ruth Martin, wed to agriculturalist Paul Martin and the foster mother of seven-year-old Timmy Martin, whose collie was the eponymous star of the series.

In her part as a housewife, Lockhart somehow managed to avoid being completely upstaged by the clever dog. She described the show as “a fairy tale 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 series, Lockhart commented: “In six sexless years of playing a rural wife and mother, I was hardly ever allowed to peck my on-screen husband on the face.”

Featuring in Lost in Space

Lockhart went straight into another successful series, Lost in Space (1965-68), a partly comedic science fiction series aimed primarily 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 the majority of her time deftly trying to navigate special effects. As the series progressed, the storyline became increasingly less about this interstellar clan and increasingly about the young son and his friendship with a mechanical being, and the cowardly villain Dr Zachary Smith.

Start in Entertainment

Lockhart’s feature film debut, at the young age of 13, had come as Belinda Cratchit in A Christmas Carol (1938). In the parts of her parents, Bob and Mrs Cratchit, were her actual parents, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. As British-born Kathleen and Canada-native Gene were both performers in dozens of films, as well as on stage, it was nearly inevitable that June, who was born in New York, would join show business.

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

Move to Hollywood and Film Roles

When her father was offered a contract by a motion picture studio, after his success on Broadway, she relocated with her parents to Hollywood, where Gene made around 300 films. After going to school in Beverly Hills, June began her career in films, mostly 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 last one, she is delightful as a New Yorker at a family party, whose dance card is filled spitefully to stop Lockhart interacting with her brother.

More significantly, although she did not realize 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 a young star had played the female character who assists the dog to escape to the owners. In the subsequent film, Lockhart played the now adult character.

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

Television and Stage Work

Although she was offered leading roles in two thrillers, She-Wolf of London (1946) and Bury Me Dead (1947), Lockhart concluded her movie career was stagnating and that TV would be the answer. Before going in a new direction, she won 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 rural hotel, where Lockhart is a physician and mother figure. She also featured regularly in TV westerns 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 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 Roles and Achievements

Her final TV credit came in 2021 as the narration of Alpha Control in an episode of a streaming service’s new version of Lost in Space. In the big screen version featuring famous 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 participated in the agency’s launches and other events. In 2013 her work as a volunteer spokesperson brought her its prestigious award.

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 earlier self.

Personal Details

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

She is remembered by her daughters and four grandchildren.

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