R.I.P., Maureen Robinson

I am late to the game, but I still wanted to honor actress June Lockhart, who went to that great freezing tube in the sky last week on the 23rd (photo above from the pilot episode of “Lost in Space”). As Dr. Maureen Robinson, she was just about the coolest TV mom that any kid could want for their own. Aerodynamic red hair, intelligence, compassion, and a rockin’ bod — she had it all!



With Guy Williams, the two portrayed an ideal set of parents that raised their three children with the perfect recipe of love, discipline, and encouragement.



Readers of this blog know that she also had a supporting role in Shirley Temple’s teen film, “Miss Annie Rooney” (1942) as Stella Bainbridge, a snooty little thing who gets tossed aside when rich boy Marty White (Dickie Moore) meets Shirley.



The face says it all…left in the dust.



Also in the movie were Noel Neill (Lois Lane in “The Adventures of Superman”) and Shirley’s stand-in, Mary Lou Isleib.



Yup…left in the dust. How can you compete with Shirley?



In the book, Lost (and Found) in Space 2, Bill Mumy had this to say about his TV mom, June:

June is a brilliant woman. Super smart. She devoured books and newspapers like I devoured cheese and crackers. June kept our fertile young minds awake by playing word games with me and Ange [Angela Cartwright] whenever there was a lull in filming and we weren’t in school. Password, Scrabble, Boggle. What people don’t really know about her is she’s a rock ‘n’ roll gal. Truly. They think of her as this perfect, traditional, family values mother on television. But June is a bold and rebellious rocker.

Angela Cartwright chimed in:

Wordsmith… game player… yoga enthusiast…extremely intelligent with a wicked sense of humor and a very distinctive laugh. Every year since I have known June she has sent birthday and Christmas card wishes to me and my family. June loved a good time. She always knew what was going on in the world and in outer space thanks to her voracious reading habits and NASA contacts. In my opinion she was a perfect Maureen Robinson. Strong, wise, smart. America’s favorite mom is a potpourri of contradictions.

This clip of June on a 1970 episode of “The Virginia Graham Show” shows June pushing back on the obnoxious Graham about homosexuality with both intelligence and wit.



A class act. You will be missed, June.

See more “Lost in Space” photos at my main website.