June Lockhart, best known for her roles in Lassie and Lost in Space, has died at the age of 100.
The veteran actress died of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica on Thursday, a family spokesman told US media.
Lockhart first achieved fame on Broadway in the 1940s, winning a Tony Award for her role in For Love or Money, and then moved into film and television.
The daughter of celebrated character actors Kathleen and Gene Lockhart, her breakout role was as mother Ruth Martin on Lassie, for which she received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.
Lockhart was born in New York City on June 25, 1925, and made her screen debut at age 13 in the 1938 film A Christmas Story alongside her parents.
She then played a number of minor roles in the 1940s before becoming the most famous star of She Wolf of London.
On Broadway, her performance in For Love or Money was described by the New York Times as “charming” at the time.
For her performance, she received a Tony Award, a Donaldson Award, a Theater World Award, and an Associated Press Woman of the Year Award in Drama.
From the late 1950s to the 1960s, she starred in 200 episodes of Lassie, followed by guest appearances on The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and Magnum PI.
Many will remember her for her role in the sci-fi series Lost in Space, in which she played the warm mother of space explorers from 1965 to 1968.
In 2021, Lockhart made a cameo appearance in the Netflix remake, voicing Alpha Control.
“She was very happy until the very end, reading the New York Times and LA Times every day,” representative and friend Lyle Gregory, 40, told US media.
“It was very important for her to focus on the news of the day.”
She is survived by two daughters, including Anne Lockhart, who is also an actress.
