June Lockhart, Tony Winner and Star of Lassie and Lost in Space, Dies at 100

June Lockhart, the Tony-winning actress who became one of television’s most beloved mothers with both Lassie and Lost in Space, died of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, California on October 23, according to a press representative. She was 100.

Born in New York on June 25, 1925, Lockhart began performing early, making her stage debut at age eight in the 1933 production of Peter Ibbetson at the Metropolitan Opera House. The daughter of actors Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, she appeared alongside her parents at 13 in MGM’s 1938 version of A Christmas Carol. She went on to act opposite Bette Davis and Charles Boyer in All This and Heaven Too and played Gary Cooper’s sister in Howard Hawks’ Sergeant York. At 19, as an MGM contract player, she portrayed Lucille Ballard in Vincente Minnelli’s Meet Me in St. Louis.

Lockhart made her Broadway debut in For Love or Money in 1947 and received the Antoinette Perry Award for Best Newcomer, the first Tony Award ever presented. Her gold medallion was later donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where it remains part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Although her early acclaim came from the stage and screen, Lockhart became best known to television audiences in the 1950s and 60s as the steadfast Ruth Martin on Lassie and later as Maureen Robinson, the matriarch of Lost in Space. She also starred as Dr. Janet Craig on Petticoat Junction and made countless guest appearances during her long career. Her voice appeared on Nickelodeon’s Ren & Stimpy.

Lockhart maintained a lifelong fascination with science and space exploration and developed a close relationship with NASA. She attended launches and landings, often as an invited guest and informal ambassador, and stood alongside Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin at the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing in 2009. In 2013, NASA awarded her the Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for her contributions to public engagement with space exploration, a recognition she considered among her most meaningful. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station would sometimes call her while playing “The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise,” a 1921 song written by her father and recorded by Thomas Edison.

A committed advocate for animal welfare, Lockhart supported organizations including the Santa Monica Mounted Police Horses and International Hearing Dog Inc. and doted on her pug, Massimo.

Her father, Gene Lockhart, was an Oscar-nominated actor and a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild. Following his example, she became active in AFRA (later AFTRA) and SAG, receiving the Guild’s Founders Award in 2018, an honor she treasured.

Friends remembered her as endlessly curious and adventurous. The late architect and environmentalist Harry Gessner encouraged her to “take the trip and enjoy the ride,” advice she followed—from singing onstage with Willie Nelson to attending White House press briefings dating back to the Eisenhower administration.

She is survived by her daughter, June Elizabeth, and granddaughter, Christianna. Services will be private.