A weekly feature in which my five-year-old son is let loose on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one of the most popular tourist attractions in Los Angeles, and chooses a star from among the more than 2,500 honorees. His “random” picks sometimes reveal unexplained connections such as the summer day in 2012 when he sat down on the star of actress Celeste Holm and refused to budge. We later learned that the Oscar-winning actress had died only hours earlier. There are five categories on the Walk of Fame: motion pictures, television, radio, music and theater but Charlie tends to favor the movies.
Charlie is not pleased that I’ve neglected to write up his Walk of Fame visits for the past several weeks. In my defense, one Sunday was Easter and the next was Charlie’s fifth birthday. Last week he actually picked TWO stars but, to be honest, his choices of singer Phil Harris (Alice Faye’s husband, Jack Benny’s sidekick, and the voice of Baloo in Disney’s The Jungle Book) and musician Florian ZaBach (the TV personality who could play “Flight of the Bumblebee” faster than any other violinist) did not exactly inspire me to run home and start writing. However, Charlie’s Mother’s Day pick yesterday could not have been more appropriate: lovely June Lockhart. Charlie chose Lockhart’s star for her TV work, but she also has one for her movie contributions.
Baby Boomers everywhere are familiar with June Lockhart as the mom on three iconic TV series. First, she played Timmy Martin’s mother, Ruth, on Lassie from 1958 to 1964 (June replaced Cloris Leachman, of all people, who had originated the role). She then played Dr. Maureen Robinson, matriarch of a family of scientists on Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space. Lockhart was unflappable as the mother on that show, which ran from 1965 to 1968, despite the constant death-defying perils her brood faced weekly. (Is it weird that I’ve been deeply familiar with this show my whole life and have seen every episode but it’s only this second as I type the name Robinson that I’m seeing the clan’s connection to Swiss Family Robinson? Duh!) Lost in Space may seem a little cheesy today, but most of us longed for an even-keeled mom like Maureen Robinson (as well as siblings like Billy Mumy and Angela Cartwright!). Lockhart wasn’t officially the mother in her third series, just the mother-like character when she took over the lead in Petticoat Junction during its final two seasons (1968-1970) as Dr. Janet Craig, after series regular Bea Benadaret passed away. In the show, located in the fictional town of Hooterville (cough), Lockhart offered motherly advice and support to the three Bradley girls, Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and Betty Jo.
June Lockhart was born on June 25, 1925 in New York City, the daughter of two stage actors who eventually moved to Hollywood to establish movie careers. Long before becoming TV’s mother extraordinaire, June Lockhart found success in several high-profile films. One of my favorites is her first film — the 1938 MGM version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol which starred Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge and June’s real-life parents Gene and Kathleen Lockhart as Mr. and Mrs. Cratchit. Thirteen-year-old June played daughter Belinda Cratchit in this well received film which also starred Leo G. Carroll as Marley’s Ghost, Ann Rutherford as the Spirit of Christmas Past and Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim. Lockhart next played one of Charles Boyer’s children in the Bette Davis costume drama All This and Heaven Too.
But Lockhart’s most beloved classic film is arguably Vincente Minnelli’s 1944 Technicolor musical Meet Me in St. Louis starring Judy Garland, Margaret O’Brien and Mary Astor. June played a rival of Judy’s older sister, played by Lucille Bremer. But her character, New York girl Lucille Ballard, turns out to be much nicer than Garland and Bremer suspect and she eventually pairs off with their brother.
June Lockhart is still very much with us at the age of 88. She acts occasionally — in films, on TV and on the stage where she once won a Tony Award. Both of June’s parents have stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and June’s daughter, actress Anne Lockhart, has followed in her family’s footsteps.
Happy Mother’s Day, June!