Posted on 06/25/2025 6:11:40 AM PDT by DFG
Today we wish June Lockhart, the veteran actress and television icon a Happy 100th Birthday!
Naturally, we immediately think of June Lockhart for her roles as TV mothers. First there was Ruth Martin in Lassie, young Timmy’s (Jon Provost) Mom from 1958 to 1964. Ms. Lockhart replaced Cloris Leachman (who in turn replaced Jan Clayton). Then there was Maureen Robinson in Lost in Space, mother to Judy (Marta Kristen), Penny (Angela Cartwright) and Will (Bill Mumy) from 1965 to 1968. And, finally, Janet Craig, the surrogate Mom of sorts to Billie Jo (Meredith MacRae), Bobbie Jo (Lori Saunders) and Betty Jo (Linda Kaye Henning) following the passing of Bea Benaderet in rural-themed sitcom Petticoat Junction from 1968 to 1970.
But let’s go back to the beginning when June Lockhart made her film debut at age 13 opposite her parents - Gene and Kathleen Lockhart - in a film version of A Christmas Carol in 1938. Numerous other films followed in her teen years, including All This, and Heaven Too (1940), Adam Had Four Sons (1941), Sergeant York (1941), Miss Annie Rooney (1942) and the Judy Garland musical Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). And a glimpse into her future, perhaps, came in 1945 in The Son of Lassie.
-snip-
Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson! And a very Happy 100th Birthday!
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Wow, hope she is doing well.
Wow, I had no idea she is still alive. Like every kid with a tv back then, I grew up watching Lassie. When we got a color tv, it was even more fun.
I saw someone walking a collie the other day and coommented what beautiful dogs they are. She repied “They didn’t tell me they bark so much.” I replied “Lassie did; “ she laughed, old enough to remember
Wow. Maybe space does slow time?
Happy birthday, Ms Lockheart!
She was very pretty.
Just a beautiful woman, deeply spiritual, and never with a taint of scandal. Couldn’t find a recent picture in which she looks a day over 70. Amazing.
Yes, they bark a lot but all they say is “Timmy fell down the well!”....................
lassie’s mom
Me, too.
Happy birthday to her.
(I guess we’re showing our age).
She played in a Gunsmoke episode, S3,E25...’Dirt’. I really didn’t care for the character she portrayed (a slow-minded, simpleton that the town folk rejected), but she was extremely beautiful.
Can see her (with Mom and Dad) in the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol. Wow!
Not to be confused with Lassie in the movie Porky’s.
To be honest I liked Jeff a lot better, even June Clayton. I remember when Gramps died and the franchise moved on as the new family took over the farm and got to keep Lassie. I was devastated through that summer awaiting the fall debut of the new series.
I guess she is not lost in space anymore...
“Yes, they bark a lot but all they say is “Timmy fell down the well!”....................”
I recall a cartoon in The New Yorker:
Timmy was caught in a bad predicament and he said: Lassie! Get help!
The next frame we see Lassie on her back on a couch with a Psychiatrist and they are chatting...
Jan Clayton................
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