Updated: September 15, 2023

June Lockhart

Born: June 25, 1925

Birthplace: New York City

Executive Summary:

Mom on Lassie, Lost in Space June Lockhart was the quintessential TV mom of the 1950s and '60s. She joined the long running Lassie in its fifth season (1958) replacing Cloris Leachman as Timmy's mother. She later played Mrs. Robinson on the campy 1960s sci-fi series Lost in Space. June Lockhart made her stage debut at the age of 8, in a New York production of Peter Ibbetson. Her first film was A Christmas Carol in 1938, starring Reginald Owen as Scrooge, her parents as Mr. and Mrs. Cratchit, and their 12 year old daughter June as their daughter. Her parents only allowed her to appear in high quality productions, so the films from Lockhart's teen years are especially impressive: Sergeant York with Gary Cooper, The White Cliffs of Dover with Irene Dunne, Meet Me in St. Louis with Judy Garland. At 18 she won a Tony as Best Newcomer for her Broadway debut in For Love or Money.

In addition to her time with Lassie and Lost in Space, she also starred on Petticoat Junction for that show's last two seasons, replacing the dead Bea Benaderet as the show's wise older feminine voice, and in the 1980s she played a grandmother on the soap General Hospital. She was also a familiar face on several different celebrity game shows, and in 1973, she was the second celebrity (the first was Rob Reiner) to help a contestant win the big prize on The $10,000 Pyramid.

Politically active, she campaigned for Republicans Eisenhower and Nixon and Democrat Adlai Stevenson. She spoke out against the war in Vietnam, and in a 1969 protest in Washington, DC, she released several white doves at the ceremony's end. She was also "den mother" for the Los Angeles production of Hair.

She co-hosted the Miss USA Pageant on television for several years, but was abruptly fired under a morals clause when the program's producers learned she was living in sin with a much younger man. The characters Lockhart played, however, were usually chaste. During her entire six year stint on Lassie, playing a married mom, Lockhart had two on screen kisses (both on the cheek) with the actor playing her husband. On Lost in Space, she once received a memo asking her not to touch Guy Williams' arm he played her husband, but the program's producers felt that touching his arm was too suggestive.

Father: Gene Lockhart (actor) Mother: Kathleen (Arthur) Lockhart (actress, Gentleman's Agreement, b. 1894, m. 1924, d. 18-Feb-1978) Husband: Dr. John F. Maloney (m. 1951, div. 1959) Husband: John Lindsay (architect, m. 1959, div.) Daughter: Anne Kathleen Lockhart (actress, Battlestar Galactica, b. 6-Sep-1953) Daughter: Lizabeth Lockhart (born June Elizabeth Lindsay, 21-Nov-1955)

High School: Westlake School for Girls (now Harvard-Westlake School), Los Angeles, CA (1943)

Hollywood Walk of Fame 6323 Hollywood Blvd (television) Hollywood Walk of Fame 6362 Hollywood Blvd (films) Tony For Love or Money

Television:

Lost in Space, Lassie, Petticoat Junction

Filmography as Actor:

Deterrence (10-Sep-1999) Lost in Space (3-Apr-1998) The Colony (17-Sep-1995) Sleep with Me (10-Sep-1994) Danger Island (20-Sep-1992) The Big Picture (15-Sep-1989) C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chud (1989) Troll (1986) The Night They Saved Christmas (13-Dec-1984) Strange Invaders (16-Sep-1983) Butterfly (Feb-1982) Lassie's Great Adventure (25-Dec-1965) T-Men (15-Dec-1947) Easy to Wed (11-Jul-1946) Son of Lassie (20-Apr-1945) Meet Me in St. Louis (28-Nov-1944) Forever and a Day (21-Jan-1943) Sergeant York (2-Jul-1941) Adam Had Four Sons (27-Mar-1941) All This, and Heaven Too (4-Jul-1940)

Official Website:

http://www.junelockhart.com/