Beyond Lost in Space: The Eternal Orbit of June Lockhart

What happens when an actress who played make-believe among the stars helps real astronauts reach them?

In this special tribute episode of Horror Heals, Corey honors the life and legacy of June Lockhart, who passed away at 100 after a century spent balancing the light of Hollywood with the wonder of the cosmos.

For most of us, June will always be the fearless matriarch who kept her family safe aboard the Jupiter 2 in Lost in Space, or the comforting mother who taught generations of kids kindness through Lassie. But her reach extended far beyond television screens and soundstages.

In 2013, NASA awarded June the Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for her decades of advocacy and inspiration. Her fascination with space was not an act, it was part of who she was. She spoke with astronauts, attended launches, and became a true ambassador for curiosity itself.

June also made her mark in the worlds that inspire this show: science fiction and horror. She brought heart and humor to the cult favorite Troll (1986), blended domestic warmth with cosmic dread in Lost in Space, and carried the poise of old Hollywood into the age of aliens, monsters, and magic. She proved that even in the strangest worlds, empathy matters most.

Corey shares his family’s personal connection to Meet Me in St. Louis, a Lockhart classic that his grandparents introduced to him and his siblings on SelectaVision, and reflects on how June’s artistry linked generations through story and imagination.

In this episode

• June’s evolution from Broadway debut to interstellar pioneer
• The Lost in Space legacy that launched real-life dreams
• Her forays into horror and fantasy, including Troll and other genre-bending roles
• Why NASA called her one of its brightest stars
• How she turned compassion, curiosity, and courage into a century-long career
• The enduring power of imagination as both escape and healing

Why this episode matters

June Lockhart’s story reminds us that horror and science fiction are never only about fear, they are about possibility. She showed that the same spark that lights a campfire ghost story can also ignite a rocket.

Her legacy is proof that curiosity can be sacred, that kindness can exist in the face of the unknown, and that our best stories, the dark ones, the cosmic ones, and the human ones, are all connected.

Listen now

Join Horror Heals for a heartfelt journey through the life of June Lockhart, the actress who helped us face the void, love the strange, and look to the stars.

Thank you for listening to Horror Heals. 

Share the show with someone who loves horror and someone who needs a little healing.

If you want to support our guests, check the show notes for links to their work, conventions, and fundraising pages.

You can also listen to our sister podcast Family Twist, a show about DNA surprises, identity, and the families we find along the way.

Horror Heals is produced by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage LLC.

Is horror good for mental wellness? Of corpse it is.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:11

Hello, boils and dudes. It's your old vow trying to hear the voice of the good people. And I want to welcome my good friends of the Horror Heels Podcast. It's Horror Good for Mental Wellness. But of course, I delight in the delicious deaths of beautiful people on the still of the So get ready for a hell of a good time with my new fiends, Corey and Kendall. On the Horror Heels podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:02

Welcome back to Horror Heels. It's Corey. Today we're honoring someone whose career reached across time, space, and genres. The incomparable June Lockhart, who recently passed away at the age of 100. June just wasn't a TV mom or a space traveler. She was a bridge between imagination and the infinite. From her luminous role in Meet Me in St. Louis, to Timmy's mom from Lassie, to the danger and wonder of Lost in Space, and to her delightfully strange turn in the movie Troll. June lived a life for Hollywood fantasy met scientific reality. And for me this one's personal. Meet Me in St. Louis is a lifelong favorite for my siblings and me. A movie our grandparents showed us over and over on their old Selectivision video disc player. I think that might be where I first fell in love with movies that made you feel something bigger than nostalgia. The kind that hum quietly. Magic. That same magic followed you in her entire life. In 2013, NASA awarded her the exceptional public achievement medal, recognizing her decades of passion for real space exploration and her role in inspiring the next generation of dreamers and astronauts. Jean Lockhart wasn't just lost in space, she helped light the way. Oh, and she's also space's first pinup girl. Let's revisit June.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

I think the the most exciting thing to talk about right now is this honor that you've been given. And I would imagine it's had to be a pretty exciting time for you.

SPEAKER_01 2:44

Well, when I got the notice and the mail that they were going to give it to me, I couldn't believe it. I was so thrilled. And I took it with me, and as I did my layering around town, I had the invitation on on the seat beside me in the car. And at every stop sign, I pick it up and read it again and put it down and pick it up and read it again. It truly that's significant. I've been in the business a long time. And during that time, I've had some lovely acknowledgments, some lovely award, you know, a Tony Award, an Emmy nomination. My family has five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, two of which are mine.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

Some lovely recognition, but nothing ever meant as much as the The best way I can put it is what I do is pretend, and what they do is real.

SPEAKER_05 3:36

Was it the the TV show Lost in Space that first got your interest in real life space exploration, or where did your passion for it?

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Oh no, I had always been very interested in it. And so doing Lost in Space was simply a grand extinction of my enthusiasm. And for with the work that NASA was doing already. And then uh the way this all with Astronauts with January 1st, 1970, and I was calling the Rose Bowl parade, I did that for seven or eight years on CBS, and I was able to interview Charles uh Conrad and Dick Gordon and Alan Bean. They had just returned, they'd been in Apollo 12, and they in November 69 had landed on the moon on November 18th and done two moon walks lasting seven and a half hours. This is our second lunar landing, as I said. But their trip had lasted ten days, four hours, and thirty-six minutes. And I got to interview them and talk about that.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

And I have a neat picture of myself on the air talking to them all. Very nice.

SPEAKER_05 4:55

I mean, it was such a unique experience. I mean, there's still so few people who can can say and talk about, you know, what that experience is like. So I'd imagine it must have been pretty and so fresh in their minds at that time must have been pretty thrilling for them to just relay their experience, you know, to you.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

I think so. Yes. And it was a short interview, of course, but that made me comfortable with them. Yeah, so 1992. You know the point music used to play music when they shuttle were up there. As wake up calls every morning.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Now, years ago, my father wrote a song called The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise. It has been recorded over 250 times, rather recently, by Willie Nelson and one of his recent albums. And my father wrote it in 1919. And so I thought that would be a great wake-up wake up for the boss. So I called Napa and put in touch with the chief of protocol, who then re to referred me to astronaut Ian Reidler, who was with the ground group that was going to be sending their colleagues up into space. And I told him about this song, and at that point, the last Paul and Mary Ford version was very successful. And he he knew the song. And he said, Well, you gotta understand you this is played as a a sort of a joke between the ground crew and the ones in the air. Let me run it by our crew here and see what what they think about it. So he called me back the next day and he said they love the idea and they're gonna play it. And the meantime they had all heard the let Paul Mary Ford version, and he said it's particularly appropriate because there is a new sunrise in space every hour and a half. And of course, because the shuttle goes around the globe in an hour and a half. Which was a new thought for me.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

And it is for most people that I mentioned it to.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

So he gave me the date, and I was there in the in mission control in the viewing room, and I listened to the music, fill the sky, that they were awakened. And then in a little while this voice came back down from space. Oh, then the announcer always says who's there and what they're playing. And then in a little while the voice came back from above.

SPEAKER_02 7:40

A bunch of us up here want to know what Lassie's mother is doing in mission control at two o'clock in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Some of us up here want to know. Anyway, with one of us, so then later in the day, of course, I had a superb tour of the facility. Space and NASA. Then I was able to do a lot of other work with them on the Apollo 8 Silver anniversary at a party for Frank Borman and James Lovell and William Anders. I was there for that. And then there was a launch at about 7 a.m. at Kennedy Space Center of the SDS Discovery. And Ken Rydler was the pilot. And of course, he'd been the man who'd set up the song being played. And also on that flight, it was the first Russian to fly with us. There was an early morning press conference in combination with the Russian space people and our NAPA administration, administrator at the time, Dan Golden. Then we go to 1994, and I was there for the 25th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. In 1994, I was invited to speak to the astronauts during a flight. There was a shovel at Columbia was up. And they invited me onto the floor, which is never done, without all kinds of approval from Washington, everything. I talked to the commander for Bob Cabana for about nine minutes. And this was an absolutely unscheduled event. Never happened. And it was a remarkable incident. I have a picture of me at the finish of when I I had handed back the phone to Bill MacArthur, and my uh head is back, I'm looking heaven heavenward. I look as though I've had a religious experience. My other arm is in the air. I mean it's shit wonderful.

SPEAKER_05 9:50

I would imagine over the years you've had a lot of opportunities to just imagine what it would be like to be out there on one of the shuttles.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

And these launches, you know, are just extraordinary. They're emotional, patriotic, sentimental. It's like a spiritual event. And of course, it packs such a physical wallop because the whole body trembles with the jets, with the trapsters. I mean, it really is remarkable. And another time, I was here at home at night and the phone rang, and the voice said, Hello, Jew. This is Bill MacArthur. I'm calling you from space. Well my god, quickly got out my notepad to make some sensible write down some sensible questions so it wasn't all, well, duh, Bill, what is like up there in space? You know, he was on the International Space Station at the time with one other man, a Russian. And so we talked for the 28 minutes that they were available to pick up the signal. It was really quite remarkable. Subsequently, he called again once. After that, I got the idea to send him a film of Christmas Carol, because Christmas was coming up, because he had called me in October the first time. So we sent uh Christmas Carol, which is a film that my mother and father and I were in. It airs every year on Turner Classic Movies. And my mother and father play Mr. and Mrs. Bob Cratchit, and I was Belinda, and I was 12, and that was my movie debut. And so that seemed appropriate. And we also sent him Meet Me in St. Louis, which I appear in. And then I sent him a big poster of me in my spacesuit from Lost in Space. And then on a the second phone call, he asked if I would go to JPL and have a video conference with him. And of course, my answer was what time and when, you know, of course. So we set it up and I had sent all these, and then while we were talking, I said, Oh, did you get the picture I sent you? He then floating casually up and down and slowly turned and looked over his shoulder, and he had put this poster up on the wall inside the International Space Station. He said, You are the first pinup in space. And then on other occasions, after they sent me up to Edwards Air Force Base to speak to the employees. I've participated in Kennedy Center Concerts for NASA, conducted by Maestro Emile DeCoup in 2009. NASA had a jail at the Air and Space Museum. In August of 2009, Buzz Aldring and I presented the Academy of Television Arts Sciences, that Emmy, which is called the Philo T. Farnsworth Technical Award, the Engineering Award. Farnsworth invented television, you know. And we presented the award to a man named Richard Knapker of NASA, and his innovative television transmission made it possible for all the world to see astronaut Armstrong's first steps on the moon 40 years ago. It's astounding.

SPEAKER_05 13:36

It really is. So how did you, after finding out about this honor, how did you prepare yourself for I mean, can you talk a little bit about what the actual experience was like?

SPEAKER_01 13:47

Well, we went to JPL because the government was shut down at the time. And first of all, when I then the awards were given initially, the bulb bulk of them were given in Washington. I could oh I'll be there. They said, no, no, no, we are going to bring it to you. Well, that's really lovely. So I went to JPL and uh Dr. Alachi gave me the award. And it's an award for exceptional public achievement to be there. And there were many other awards presented that day for extraordinary uh technical and engineering achievements of these people. And by the way, many of them, I noticed, the bulk of them, were quite young. Young people. Yeah. There were really only a few senior engineers, which impressed me rather a lot. That these young people with these big thoughts. And they were rewarded for to be among the culture of of people wonderful. And they're the people who thought, yeah, I can design a little shovel that'll pick up a little piece of the dirt from the surface of Mars and put it in. And there was another man who figured out how to put it in the little oven that they use to detect what's in the surface of the ground on Mars. And somebody else can put it in somewhere and store it. All these little bits and pieces of parts of great science. I mean, it's marvelous to be among these educated, intelligent people. It's fun. What did you wear to the event? I wore a black velvet jacket, a red blouse with a ruffle collar, and the gold medal as uh shines nicely uh against the ruffle. They gave me a huge plaque to go with it, and a little one for my lapel, and another little one that I can pin on my jacket should I wish to do that. I, on the other hand, are carrying the metal around. I'm showing it to strangers in elevators if they're inch.

SPEAKER_05 16:09

But I would imagine, you know, you've had the opportunity to talk to these heroes over the years, but I and some of them probably get a little starstruck just meeting someone of your caliber.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

Most of them say that watching Left in Space as little boys made them know what they wanted to do when they grew up.

unknown 16:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Isn't that amazing? That's something. And I'm watching this show now, which is on me TV every Saturday night at eight o'clock.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

And I this show made people make career choices. I'm astonished.

SPEAKER_05 16:43

Well, you mentioned my one of my absolute favorites and one that I have to watch. I've been watching since I was a little boy, but I have to watch it at least once every year, and that's Meet Me in St. Louis. I'm a native St. Louis, and so of course it did there has a really oh my.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

And also that was such a lovely part that I had in it.

unknown 17:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

It's very seldom in any play or any movie that a new character is introduced in the fourth act.

SPEAKER_05 17:11

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:12

The character did that I played, solved all the problems, and then the movie goes to the end and they put the lights on and it's the same, well, it's Ferris. I mean, it's quite remarkable.

SPEAKER_05 17:21

Well, in a it really wouldn't Yeah, and especially have the, as you said, such a pivotal role come in. I I think the reason why that movie holds up so well is that it was so perfect in cast. I mean everybody in them in the movie.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

And the color. The lighting, the set, the wardrobe, everything is exquisite. And uh Vincent Rennelli, of course, was such a fine artist. And at the end when we did the the scene of the St. Louis fair grounds, supposedly, and all the lights went on. And we shot that on a huge stage at MGM. And it was quite quite extraordinary. Of course, is another tie-in with my background. This was the first big, big fair of any sort that Thomas Edison had lit. Because it was nineteen three.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Right.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Thomas Edison had introduced my parents. Wow. How that for something to to put in your article. They had done a play for him in nineteen Daddy had done a play in 22, my mother had joined the company in 23, and they married in 24, and I was born in 25. Yeah, that's right. So they met in 1923 when he introduced them. And Thomas Edison being very savvy man about how to promote his new invention, every year would send out the Edison Dealers Convention caravan, and it was a train, and he would display he would put all his new inventions on the train and also take a company of actors, singers from the metropolitan. There were musicians and people who would lecture. And when they got to Lake Louise and Banff, Daddy made his move. Mommy to marry. It was really I never met anybody else who could say that. I think so. That Thomas Editman introduced their parent. Oh goodness. Okay, and then there's the connection with Meet Me in St.

SPEAKER_05 19:45

Louis and Yeah, that's a great connection. I have to say, another one of my favorites from when I was a kid, I actually watched it pretty recently. It's on Netflix now, is a kind of a comedy science fiction-y kind of movie called Troll that you made in the 80s, and your sister was really, really fun, you know, almost like a horror movie for kids almost.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

It was supposed to take place in San Francisco. Well, we shot it in Italy. And that was great fun, of course, being there to do a film. But yes, I had great fun with that, and I loved the part in it. We don't know whether she was a witch or just somebody who had a great extrasensory perception. Or not, but uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

I hadn't seen it for years and I I think I watched it late last year again on Netflix and it was And of course one of the the weird ladies that was the kind of all the bush creeping around. That was Julia Louie Dreyfond.

SPEAKER_05 20:37

I know, isn't that astounding? I'm thinking Son of there too.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Oh, it was the most McCast people you can imagine. Yeah, Sunny Gono. And I remember I was on the flight with him over, and I don't think he'd ever been to Italy. And that's my memory of it, and I could be wrong. He was thrilled to be going to Italy.

SPEAKER_05 21:00

Oh, I bet, I bet. And what a great opportunity to make a movie in Italy. I would imagine that you've heard from many, many people over the years about their excitement of being such an iconic TV mom. What is being that part of that that TV mom icon meant to you over the years?

SPEAKER_01 21:18

It's really kind of neat. Every once in a while, a part will come along in which I'm a a proper bitch or a drunk or something, and very great fun to do. I have always considered myself a character actress, even when I was playing as a new role. It was sort of my secret. I thought, well, they think I'm a young leading woman on Broadway or something, but I'm a character actress. And of course I'm sure I got this from my parents who were both character actors, and I knew that being a character actor was something that was really quite wonderful. Than being an a an Agenou who does three or four films and then you never hear from them again, right? Which so often is what happens now with young people in new televis the all the hoopla, they come on and they're introduced and there's lots of in coverage, and then boom, they're gone.

SPEAKER_05 22:18

Well, I think that you're very clever in realizing that how important character actors are. Thank you so much for taking some time to speak with me today. It's been such a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Well, thank you very much, and all the bet to you and and your career.

SPEAKER_04 22:32

June Lockhart spent a century chasing curiosity. She stood on stages, sound stages, and sometimes even mission control, reminding us that wonder isn't limited to fiction. Her imagination became a fuel source, one that lifted real rockets, real hearts, and real dreams. And maybe that's what connects her Hollywood world to ours. The same way horror connects to healing. She showed us that you can look into the dark, or into the void of space, and still find beauty staring back at you. So, today, as we remember June, I like to picture her in that gleaming silver suit from Lost in Space, floating among the stars, still curious, still kind, still reminding us to keep exploring. Because in our universe, legends don't fade. They orbit forever. We thank you for listening to Horror Heels. And remember, even in the blackest depths of space, there's always a little light waiting to guide you home. The Horror Heels podcast is produced and presented by How the Cow Ate the Cabbage LLC.