{"id":251327,"date":"2025-10-25T20:05:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T20:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/251327\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T20:05:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T20:05:10","slug":"actor-june-lockhart-who-played-mom-in-lassie-dies-at-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/251327\/","title":{"rendered":"Actor June Lockhart, who played mom in ‘Lassie,’ dies at 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cLassie\u201d and \u201cLost in Space\u201d star June Lockhart died of natural causes in her Southern California home this week, her family said Saturday. She was 100.<\/p>\n

Lockhart played the mother roles in the two popular TV series, but she also won what is now called a Tony Award early in her career in the Broadway production \u201cFor Love or Money.\u201d<\/p>\n

She died at her home in Santa Monica, California, on Thursday with her daughter June Elizabeth and granddaughter Christianna by her side, the family said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"JuneLassie and June Lockhart in North Hollywood, Calif., in 2009.Alberto E. Rodriguez \/ Getty Images file<\/p>\n

In \u201cLassie,\u201d Lockhart played Ruth Martin, and in \u201cLost in Space\u201d she played Maureen Robinson. She also played Dr. Janet Craig in \u201cPetticoat Junction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lockhart was long a proponent of the space agency NASA and its mission, and she appeared with pioneering moon-walking astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin when NASA Television won a primetime Emmy Award<\/a> in 2009.<\/p>\n

The ceremony marked the 40th anniversary of the historic live-TV broadcast from the surface of the moon, which captivated the world on July 20, 1969.<\/p>\n

\u201cMommy always considered acting as her craft, her vocation, but her true passions were journalism, politics, science and NASA,\u201d daughter June Elizabeth said in Saturday\u2019s statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe cherished playing her role in \u2018Lost in Space\u2019 and she was delighted to know that she inspired many future astronauts, as they would remind her on visits to NASA,\u201d Elizabeth said. \u201cThat meant even more to her than the hundreds of television and movies roles she played.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lockhart was born in New York City on June 25, 1925, and began acting at 8 years old with a role in \u201cPeter Ibbetson\u201d at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1933, her family said.<\/p>\n

Her first film role was in 1938 in \u201cA Christmas Carol,\u201d in which her parents \u2014 who were both actors, Gene and Kathleen Lockhart \u2014 starred.<\/p>\n

She won an Antoinette Perry Award, which would later become the Tony, for \u201cbest newcomer\u201d after her Broadway performance in \u201cFor Love or Money\u201d in 1947.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Phil Helsel<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Phil Helsel is a reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cLassie\u201d and \u201cLost in Space\u201d star June Lockhart died of natural causes in her Southern California home this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":{"0":"post-251327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking-news","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}