Classic Films

Associated Press / 10-25-25

The daughter of prolific character actor Gene Lockhart, Lockhart was cast frequently in ingenue roles as a young film actor. Television made her a star.

Early in her career, Lockhart appeared in numerous 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 1945 sequel to “Lassie, Come Home,” playing the grown-up version of the role created by Elizabeth Taylor.

From 1958 to 1964, she portrayed Ruth Martin, who raised the orphaned Timmy (Jon Provost), in the popular CBS series “Lassie.” From 1965 to 1968, she traveled aboard the spaceship Jupiter II as mother to the Robinson family in the campy CBS adventure “Lost in Space.”

Lockhart died Thursday (10-23) of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica.

Full obituary: https://apnews.com/article/june-lockhart-obituary-lassie-lost-space-d994f1fa075f4a6e204e6cee0f74ed07