Santa Monica, California– June Lockhart, who became a mother figure to a generation of television viewers both at home in “Lassie” and in the stratosphere in “Lost In Space,” has died. It was 100.
Family spokesman Lyle Gregory, a friend of 40 years, said Saturday that Lockhart died Thursday of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica.
“She was very happy to the end, reading the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times every day,” he said. “It was very important for her to stay focused on the news of the day.”
The daughter of prolific character actor Gene Lockhart, Lockhart was frequently cast in breakout roles as a young film actor. Television made her a star.
From 1958 to 1964, she played Ruth Martin, who raised orphan Timmy (Jean Provost), on the popular CBS series “Lacey.” From 1965 to 1968, she traveled aboard the spaceship Jupiter 2 as the matriarch of the Robinson family in the CBS adventure “Lost in Space.”
Her portrayal of warm, compassionate mothers endeared her to younger viewers, and decades later baby boomers flocked to nostalgia conventions to meet Lockhart and buy her autographed photographs.
Off screen, Lockhart insisted that she was nothing like the women she portrayed.
“I have to quote Dan Rather,” she said in a 1994 interview. “I can control my reputation, but not my image, because my image is how you see me.
“I love rock ‘n’ roll and go to concerts. I’ve driven army tanks and flown in hot air balloons. And I do paragliding — the ones that don’t have engines. I do a lot of things that don’t fit with my image.”
Early in her career, Lockhart appeared in several films. Among them: “All This and Heaven Too,” “Adam Had Four Sons,” “Sergeant York,” “Miss Annie Rooney,” “Forever and a Day” and “Meet Me in St. Louis.”
She also made “Son of Lassie,” the sequel to the 1945 film “Lassie, Come Home,” in which she played the adult version of the role created by Elizabeth Taylor.
New life on TV
When her film career faltered as an adult, Lockhart moved to television, appearing on live New York dramas, game shows, and talk shows. She was the third actress to star in “Lassie” on television, after Jean Clayton and Cloris Leachman. (Dean replaced the show’s original child star, Tommy Rettig, in 1957.)
Lockhart spoke candidly about her canine co-star. In the first place, in 1989, Lacey was a little girl, she said, because male collies are “larger, the collar is bigger, and they look more adorable.”
She added: “I worked with four girls. There was only one main Lassie at a time. Then there was a dog that ran, a dog that fought, and a dog that was a stand-in, because only humans can work 14 hours a day without needing a nap.”
“Lacey wasn’t particularly friendly with anyone. Lacey was entirely focused on the coaches.”
After six years in the rural area of Lacey, Lockhart is transported to outer space, embarking on the role of Maureen Robinson, the wise and reassuring matriarch of a family departing on a five-year journey to a distant planet in “Lost in Space.”
After their mission is sabotaged by fellow passenger, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), the team travels from planet to planet, encountering strange creatures and near-disasters that require viewers to tune in next week to figure out what to escape. Throughout the three-year period, Mrs. Robinson offered solace and a slice of her “space pie.”
As with “Lacey,” Lockhart enjoyed working on “Lost in Space”: “It was like going to work at Disneyland every day.”
In 1968, Lockhart joined the cast of “Petticoat Junction” for the final two seasons of the rural comedy, playing Dr. Janet Craig. The original star, Pia Benaderet, was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1968 as well.
A little bit of everything
Lockhart remained active long after Lost in Space, appearing mostly in episodic television shows as well as in recurring roles on the daytime soap opera “General Hospital” and the nighttime soap operas “Knots Landing” and “The Colbys.” Her film credits included “The Remake” and the animated film “Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm” in which she provided the voice of Mindy the Owl.
She also used her media pass to attend presidential press conferences, beauty pageants and holiday parades, appeared in B-grade pictures, and toured in the plays “Steel Magnolias,” “Bedroom Farce,” and “Once More with Feeling.”
“Her true passion was journalism,” Gregory said. “I loved going to the White House briefing rooms.”
Lockhart loved to tell the story of how her parents met, saying that they were hired separately in a touring production sponsored by inventor Thomas Edison and decided to get married during a stop in Lake Louise, Alberta.
Their daughter was born on June 25, 1925 in New York City. The family moved to Hollywood 10 years later, and Gene Lockhart worked steadily as a character actor, usually in friendly roles, and occasionally as a villain. His wife, Kathleen, often appeared with him.
Young Joon made her stage debut at the age of eight, dancing in a children’s ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House. Her first film appearance was a small role in 1938’s “A Christmas Carol,” playing the daughter of Bob Cratchit and his wife, played by her parents.
She was married and divorced twice: to John Maloney, a physician, father of her daughters Anne Kathleen and John Elizabeth; and architect John C. Lindsay.
Throughout her subsequent career, Lockhart was associated in the public mind with “Lacey.”
Although she sometimes mocked the show, she admitted: “How wonderful it is that in a profession there is one role that you are known for. Many actors work their whole lives and never have a single role of their own.”
Bob Thomas, a longtime AP journalist who died in 2014, was the lead writer for this obituary.
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