US actor June Lockhart, best known for her roles in Lassie and Lost in Space, has died at the age of 100.
Lockhart passed away on Thursday, US time, of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, according to family spokesman Lyle Gregory.
“She was very happy up until the very end, reading the New York Times and LA Times every day,” Gregory said.
“It was very important to her to stay focused on the news of the day.”
The daughter of prolific character actor Gene Lockhart, she began her career in film, often cast in ingénue roles, before finding lasting fame on television.
From 1958 to 1964, Lockhart portrayed Ruth Martin, the gentle and devoted mother raising orphaned Timmy (Jon Provost) in the beloved series Lassie.
She later starred as Maureen Robinson, matriarch of the Jupiter II crew, in the cult sci-fi adventure Lost in Space from 1965 to 1968.
Her portrayals of warm, compassionate mothers made her a favourite among audiences, with generations of viewers remembering her fondly. Decades later, baby boomers often sought her out at nostalgia conventions to meet the star and collect her autograph.
Offscreen, Lockhart maintained that she was quite different from the wholesome characters she played.
“I must 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 going to the concerts. I have driven Army tanks and flown in hot air balloons.
And I go plane-gliding – the ones with no motors. I do a lot of things that don’t go with my image.”
Lockhart’s film credits included 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 appeared in Son of Lassie, the 1945 sequel to Lassie Come Home, portraying the grown-up version of the character first played by Elizabeth Taylor.
Even after Lost in Space, Lockhart remained a fixture on television, appearing in a variety of episodic roles and recurring parts in General Hospital, Knots Landing and The Colbys.
Though she often joked about her association with Lassie, she remained grateful for the role that defined her career.
“How wonderful that in a career there is one role for which you are known,” she said.
“Many actors work all their lives and never have one part that is really theirs.”
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