June Lockhart, one of the last surviving stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, has died aged 100.
The American actress began her career in the 1930s, with early notable roles coming in classics like A Christmas Carol and Meet Me in St. Louis.
In the subsequent decades she predominately appeared on television, including in Lassie, Lost in Space and Petticoat Junction.
A two-time Emmy Award nominee and Tony Award winner, Lockhart’s career spanned nearly nine decades.
However, it’s now been announced the actress died a few days ago – on the Thursday night in Santa Monica, California.
Her cause of death has been revealed as natural causes, with the actress’ daughter, June Elizabeth, and her granddaughter, Christianna, by her side when she died, as reported by People.
While she is set to have a private funeral service, her family have requested donations be made to The Actors Fund, ProPublica and International Hearing Dog, Inc. in lieu of flowers.
Born in 1925 in New York City, Lockhart’s parents Gene and Kathleen were also actors themselves.
Aged just eight-years-old, she made her stage debut in a Metropolitan Opera production of Peter Ibbetson.
Her first film role was aged 13 in 1938’s A Christmas Carol, in which she played the daughter of Bob Cratchit, who was played by her father, while her mother played his wife.
Reflecting on her time on set, in 2014 she told the Ames Tribune: ‘I thought my parents were wonderful as the Cratchits, and it was just great fun to see how a film was made.’
‘We used to perform it every Christmas at home for our dinner guests. So, I had already appeared in it, with my parents, in our living room for many years prior to doing it for MGM.’
Other early film roles came inAll This, and Heaven Too, Adam Had Four Sons, Sergeant York and She-Wolf of London.
In 1944, she went on to feature in another Christmas film — Meet Me in St. Louis.
It was five years later that Lockhart turned her attention to the small screen – initially making guest appearances on shows including Hallmark Hall of Fame, Shirley Temple’s Storybook, Wagon Train and Gunsmoke.
She then went on to be cast in Lassie in 1958, taking over the role of Ruth Martin from Cloris Leachman.
After finishing up on that show, the actress starred in Lost in Space from 1965 to 1968, playing the mother of a family of space colonists.
When that show came to an end, she then appeared on Petticoat Junction for its final two seasons, from 1968 to 1970.
Over the years, other TV roles included appearing in Magnum, P.I., Knots Landing, Murder, She Wrote, Full House, General Hospital.
She also featured in 7th Heaven, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Grey’s Anatomy. Her last screen credit came in the 2021 reboot of Lost in Space, voicing the character of June in one episode.
Throughout her career, she accumulated more than 150 film and TV credits.
Lockhart also appeared on Broadway twice, in For Love or Money in 1947 and The Grand Prize in 1955. The first saw her win the Tony for outstanding performance by a newcomer, however a few decades later she spoke about the difficulties of being on stage compared to working on sets,
‘I like it all, but I think the hardest to do is theatre. Television is fun. But theatre is night after night after night.’
Despite this, when she was a child, one critic declared of her stage presence: ‘June Lockhart has burst on Broadway with the suddenness of an unpredicted comet.’
The actress has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for television.
Lockhart was married to John F. Maloney from 1951 until 1959. They shared two daughters – Anne and June Elizabeth.
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