Happy 98th Birthday to June Lockhart

June Lockhart’s acting career has spanned over 80 years. She started out in the golden age of Hollywood, played the mother roles on beloved series like Lassie and Lost in Space, and has continued acting throughout her lifetime, with a recent role in 2021. As the Emmy nominated, Tony Award winning actress celebrates her 98th birthday, we take a look back at her career.

Lockhart was born on June 25, 1925, in New York City to actors Gene and Kathleen Lockhart. She made her film debut in 1938, opposite her parents in A Christmas Carol. The young actress had roles in All This, and Heaven Too, Sergeant York, Meet Me in St. Louis, Son of Lassie, She-Wolf of London, and The Yearling. She started working more in television in the ‘50s, appearing in Justice, Appointment with Adventure, Gunsmoke, Have Gun – Will Travel, Rawhide, and Wagon Train.

From 1958 to 1964 she starred in the wholesome family show Lassie as Ruth Martin, the mother to adventurous young Timmy. After leaving the show, she appeared in Perry Mason, Bewitched, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and The Red Skelton Hour.

Then she played matriarch Maureen Robinson in the popular sci-fi family show Lost in Space, which ran for three seasons from 1965 to 1968. Her next starring TV role was as Dr. Janet Craig in the sitcom Petticoat Junction from ’68 to ’70.

Continuing to work in television, she did episodes of Love, American Style, Adam-12, Police Story, Happy Days, Magnum, P.I., and Falcon Crest. Lockhart was in Deadly Games, Knots Landing, The Greatest American Hero, Troll, The New Lassie, and she had a recurring role in General Hospital that went from ’84 to ’98.

Then she was in Full House, Babylon 5, Roseanne, Step by Step, 7th Heaven, Beverly Hills, 90210, and played the principal in the Lost in Space movie. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Lockhart was in One Night at McCool’s, The Drew Carey Show, Grey’s Anatomy, Cold Case, and she voiced Alpha Control in the most recent Lost in Space series.