US actor June Lockhart, best known for her roles in Lassie and Lost in Space, has died aged 100.

Lockhart died on Thursday, US time, of natural causes at her home in Santa Monica, said family spokesman Lyle Gregory.

"She was very happy up until the very end, reading the New York Times and LA Times every day," he said.

"It was very important to her to stay focused on the news of the day."

The daughter of prolific character actor Gene Lockhart, Lockhart was cast frequently in ingenue roles as a young film actor, but television made her a star.

From 1958 to 1964, she portrayed Ruth Martin, who raised the orphaned Timmy (Jon Provost), in the popular series Lassie.

From 1965 to 1968, she travelled aboard the spaceship Jupiter II as mother to the Robinson family in the campy adventure Lost

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