Hollywood is mourning the loss of June Lockhart.
The beloved actress died at the age of 100 on Thursday, October 23 in Santa Monica, Calif., per Variety.
The star’s cause of death was natural causes, with her daughter June Elizabeth, and her granddaughter, Christianna, having been by her side at the time.
Funeral services for Lockhart will be kept private.
In lieu of flowers, her family has asked for donations to be made to The Actors Fund, ProPublica and International Hearing Dog, Inc.
“Mommy always considered acting as her craft, her vocation, but her true passions were journalism, politics, science and NASA,” Elizabeth said in a statement, the outlet shared. “She cherished playing her role in ‘Lost in Space’ and she was delighted to know that she inspired many future astronauts, as they would remind her on visits to NASA. That meant even more to her than the hundreds of television and movies roles she played.”
Lockhart married John F. Maloney in 1951 and along with Elizabeth, they also shared daughter Anne. The former flames divorced in 1959.
Lockhart, who was born on June 25, 1925 in New York City, began her acting career at age 8 in the 1933 stage production of “Peter Ibbetson” at the Metropolitan Opera House.
By 1938, Lockhart made her film debut as Belinda Cratchit in “A Christmas Carol” at age 13 alongside her parents Gene and Kathleen Lockhart.
“I thought my parents were wonderful as the Cratchits, and it was just great fun to see how a film was made,” Lockhart recalled while speaking to Ames Tribune in 2014. “I loved the Victorian costumes.”
“We used to perform it every Christmas at home for our dinner guests,” Lockhart shared. “So I had already appeared in it, with my parents, in our living room for many years prior to doing it for MGM.”
She added her family was thrilled when her first-ever words in a movie were “I know, I know — sausages.”
“It’s become a family joke,” stated Lockhart, “and we all shriek with laughter when we watch it now.”
The stage vet was best known for playing Ruth on the television series “Lassie,” and Maureen Robinson in the 1960s television series “Lost in Space.”
Many fans told Lockhart that watching “Lost in Space” is what inspired them to become scientists.
As she teased to NPR in 2004, “I did ‘Lassie’ for six years, and I never had anybody come up to me and say, ‘It made me want to be a farmer.’”
Lockhart also had a cameo in the 1998 movie adaptation of “Lost in Space,” as well as on Netflix’s 2021 reboot. In real life, the film star became a NASA spokespoerson.
Lockhart was honored by NASA with the Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for her impact on space exploration in 2013.
“I’ve been to two space shuttle launches and worked with NASA since the 1970s, addressing their employees and traveling on NASA’s behalf to promote the agency,” she shared with The Denver Gazette at the time. “So I’m absolutely thrilled by this recognition. No other actress has received this honor.”
During the Golden Age of Hollywood, Lockhart starred in a mixture of iconic roles, including “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944), “She-Wolf of London” (1946), “Bury Me Dead” (1947), “Troll” (1986) and “One Night at McCool’s” (2001).
She also guest starred on some of the most beloved series: “Bewitched,” “Happy Days,” “Magnum P.I., “Falcon Crest,” “Full House,” “Roseanne,” “7th Heaven,” “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “General Hospital” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Having worked in multitude of early Westerns, Lockhart told Burlington County Times in 2015: “I loved the period costumes with the long gowns and their cinched-in waists. The stories were also marvelously written and could be quite provocative for their time.”
She earned her first Tony Award for outstanding performance by a newcomer for her 1947 Broadway debut in “For Love or Money.” She donated the trophy to the Smithsonian.
Lockhart returned to Broadway in 1955 for “The Grand Prize.”
”I like it all, but I think the hardest to do is theater,” she confessed to the Chicago Tribune in 1987. “Television is fun. But theater is night after night after night.”
Lockhart also has two Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – one for her film career and another for her work in television.
Despite playing an on-screen mom a lot of the time, Lockhart made it known that her real life persona was much more fun.
“I love rock ‘n’ roll and going to concerts,” she expressed to the Chicago Tribune in 1994. “I have driven army tanks and flown in hot-air balloons, and I go plane-gliding — the ones with no motors. I do lots of things that don’t go hand-in-hand with my image.”
Lockhart even did a voiceover part for the cartoon sitcom “Ren and Stimpy,” as it was her favorite show.
“I am such a fan, I try never to miss an episode,” she gushed.
Lockhart also had a deep love for keeping up on American politics and the presidency.
Her interest peaked after meeting President Harry Truman in 1948.
She explained to The Post in 2016 that she asked Truman what it was like to be in the Oval Office.
“He looked at me, and said, ‘It’s just like being in jail,’” she recounted.
President Dwight Eisenhower’s press secretary Jim Hagerty ended up gifting Lockhart a lifetime press pass. She attended multiple press briefings in both D.C. and California for 47 years.
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