June Lockhart, Lassie and Lost in Space star, dies at 100

June Lockhart, the actress best known for television roles in Lassie and Lost in Space, died of natural causes on October 23 at her home in Santa Monica, California, the family said. She was 100. A family statement and her publicist said Lockhart was surrounded by her daughter, June Elizabeth, and her granddaughter, Christianna, when she died at 9:20 p.m.

Lockhart rose to national prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, playing Ruth Martin, Timmy's foster mother, on the CBS series Lassie from 1958 to 1964 and later Dr. Maureen Robinson, the family matriarch, on Lost in Space from 1965 to 1968. Her television career extended for decades with recurring and guest roles on programs that included Petticoat Junction, General Hospital, Beverly Hills 90210 and dozens of other series, and she continued to work into recent decades.

Born in New York City in 1925 to actors Gene and Kathleen Lockhart, she made her stage debut at age eight in a 1933 Metropolitan Opera House production and appeared on screen at 13 in MGM's 1938 A Christmas Carol, acting alongside her parents. Her early film credits included Meet Me in St. Louis, Sergeant York and All This and Heaven Too, and she later appeared in...