.gif)
Ruth Martin (television character)
Encyclopedia
Ruth Martin is a fictional character on the long running television series, Lassie
(1954–1973). She was briefly played by Cloris Leachman
before June Lockhart
stepped into the role. The character makes her first appearance mid-fourth season (1957) and her last in the first episode of the eleventh season (1964); she appears in 208 episodes in total.
Ruth is married to Paul Martin
, an agricultural school graduate and a farmer. The couple buys a small farm and adopt
Timmy
, a foster child living on the farm. Ruth is portrayed as a practical, competent woman, a loving wife and mother, and an active community member.
In 1957, Cloris Leachman joined the cast as Ruth but eventually her feuds with co-stars, her unwillingness to sign a contract, and other troubles forced show producer Jack Wrather
to fire her at the close of the season's filming. June Lockhart replaced her at the top of the 1958 season and remained in the role until the cancellation of her character in the first episode of the 1964 season.
Lockhart appeared as Ruth Martin in Campbell's Soup commercials, a feature film edited from a multi-part episode of the television show, and show-related merchandise such as Whitman novels and Dell comic books
. The actress received an Emmy nomination for her performance in the role in 1959.
called Lassie.
Throughout the series, Ruth performs housewifely chores such as cooking meals, ironing and mending, hanging laundry and baking cakes. She milks the cow, gathers eggs, drives about the county in the pickup truck, and participates in Sunday school carnivals, community square dances, and her son's cub scout troop. When her husband is out of the county on business, Ruth manages the farm with the occasional help of neighbor Cully Wilson.
Ruth's housekeeping is sometimes interrupted by Timmy's adventures. She helps him rescue a child trapped in a culvert rapidly filling with flood water, assists him in his 4-H projects, pitches a tent for their overnight accommodation at a Coon Dog Race, and flies into the Canadian wilderness when Timmy and Lassie are swept away in a hot air balloon. Marital affection between Ruth and her husband is only represented through brief kisses and hugs. The role ends when Ruth, Paul and Timmy emigrate to Australia, leaving Lassie with neighbor Cully Wilson.
that she had been married to him longer than to any of her real husbands and commented after leaving the show, "In six sexless years of playing a country wife and mother, I was hardly ever allowed to kiss Hugh Reilly on the cheek."
In a conversation with John Barron of the New York Times in 2004, Lockhart was asked what Lassie was all about and why it remains something of a magical memory for those who were children in the 1950s and 1960s. She responded, "This was a fairy tale about people on a farm in which the dog solves all the problems in 22 minutes, in time for the last commercial. Often, if the scene had gone well, and maybe we hadn't gotten the dialogue quite right, if the dog was right, they'd print it."
debuted September 1954 in the Sunday 7:00 P.M. time slot. Former Broadway star Jan Clayton
portrayed Ellen Miller, a war-widow living on a farm with her young son Jeff (Tommy Rettig
), and her father-in-law (George Cleveland
). The show was an instant hit, winning the Best Children's program Emmy in 1955 and receiving a host of additional honors.
As the 1957 season approached, Rettig wanted to leave the show and Clayton considered returning to her roots in musical theater. Producers planned to ease their characters out of the show while introducing new ones. Six-year old Jon Provost
was hired to play Timmy, a foster child living on the farm. Rettig hoped the plot would be restructured to allow his departure, but producers were content with the status quo, the show was more popular than ever, and it was hoped Rettig and Clayton would reconsider.
Producers were forced to overhaul the show when actor George Cleveland died suddenly on July 17, 1957. The plot was revised with new characters Ruth and Paul Martin buying the Miller farm, and adopting Timmy and Lassie. Ellen and Jeff were written out of the show.
With the new storyline ready, Cloris Leachman
was quickly hired to play Ruth Martin. As the season's filming progressed, Leachman tired of playing a farm woman. She wouldn't sign a contract, and refused to do PR for the show's sponsor, Campbell's Soup, telling the company, "I make my own soup. I don't eat your's." Audiences found Leachman and co-star Jon Shepodd
as Paul Martin "too stiff". The two worked adult glances and touches such as holding hands, hugs, pecks on the lips into their on-screen performances in order to give their characters more depth. Toward the end of the season, George Chandler
was hired to play a grandfatherly character and to bring some warmth to the show, but Leachman was soon feuding with him; their disagreements appeared in the gossip columns. With ratings plummeting and public resentment aroused, show owner Jack Wrather
summarily fired Leachman and Shepodd in February 1958 when filming for the 1957–1958 season was completed.
, a Broadway actor with a reputation for being a solid and cooperative performer, was signed. Actress June Lockhart, who had appeared in the second of MGM's popular Lassie films (Son of Lassie
), had been considered for the role of Ruth Martin before Leachman was signed. Lockhart however was working in New York at the time and declined the role. Eight months later, she had moved back to California and was working on both coasts. Once again, she was offered the role, but, stipulating she only would be interested in a one year commitment, producers were forced to decline. Then she reconsidered:
Lockhart was finally hired to play Ruth Martin and debuted with Reilly in the opener of the fifth season, "The Storm" (1958). No explanation was offered the audience regarding the new faces on the show. In order to protect the All-American perception of the show and its sponsor, Campbell's Soup, the producers wrote long clauses into cast contracts fobidding them from appearing in anything that would damage their wholesome image.
In 1963, the multi-part episode "The Journey" was filmed in the High Sierra
and later edited into a feature film
called Lassie's Great Adventure. The plot follows Timmy and Lassie as they are swept away in a carnival hot air balloon. Ruth and Paul fly into the wilderness to be at hand when Timmy is found. The episode was the only episode filmed in color during the Ruth Martin seasons. Ratings skyrocketed.
chose not renew his contract. Stars Lockhart and Reilly were fired. With only Provost and the producers knowing the real reason for the changes, the press was told the show had done all the "boy and his dog" stories possible, but Lockhart speculated that Provost's mother wanted too much money. and Reilly later stated that the producers' decision was based upon trading four advanced salaries for future star Robert Bray
's starting salary. Lockhart loved her role as "Lassie's mother", but accepted her fate, telling columnist Bob Thomas:
In "The Wayfarers", the first-part of the three-part 1964 season opener, producers shipped Ruth and her family off to Australia
where Paul would teach agriculture. Lassie was forced to remain in the States due to Australia's strict quarantine
regulations and would become the companion animal of Corey Stuart
, a forestry service worker. Lockhart commented, "We were supposed to go over there so that Paul could show the Australians how to grow things. We hadn't had a successful bean crop in six seasons. What could they possibly learn from us?"
The actress later recalled:
Lockhart joked with Reilly that she had been married to him longer than to any of her real husbands and commented after leaving the show, "In six sexless years of playing a country wife and mother, I was hardly ever allowed to kiss Hugh Reilly on the cheek."
According to one writer, "the character who really held the series and the family together was the mother". In commenting on her Ruth Martin character, Lockhart said, "Without a doubt it was the mother who ran the farm. Mother was the strong one. She was certainly a liberated woman who didn't take any guff off anyone."
. After the episode, Ruth disappeared and was never mentioned again. In "Roots", the viewer learns Ruth and Paul never properly adopted Timmy, and he was forced to remain in the States while his parents emigrated to Australia. Timmy was then adopted by a family called the McCulloughs.
as well as in Whitman novels, and a Whitman punch out book
. Ruth Martin appeared in television ads for Campbell's Soup.
for Lassie were the Martin family years: #24 in 1957, #22 in 1958, #15 in 1959, #15 in 1961, #21 in 1962, #13 in 1963, and #17 in 1964. The only year the show did not climb into the top twenty-five was 1960, when it ran opposite Walt Disney Presents on ABC
and Shirley Temple Theatre on NBC
. With the departure of the Martin family in the eleventh season, the show began a steady decline in ratings.
nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series for Lassie.
Lassie (1954 TV series)
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
(1954–1973). She was briefly played by Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
before June Lockhart
June Lockhart
June Lockhart is an American actress, primarily in 1950s and 1960s television, but with memorable performances on stage and in film too. She is remembered as the mother in two TV series, Lassie and Lost in Space. She also portrayed Dr...
stepped into the role. The character makes her first appearance mid-fourth season (1957) and her last in the first episode of the eleventh season (1964); she appears in 208 episodes in total.
Ruth is married to Paul Martin
Paul Martin (television character)
Paul Martin is a fictional character on the long running television series, Lassie . Paul is a farmer, and the husband of Ruth, a housewife. The couple are adoptive parents of Timmy, a foster child living on a small farm in the American midwest that the couple purchase...
, an agricultural school graduate and a farmer. The couple buys a small farm and adopt
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
Timmy
Timmy Martin (television character)
Timmy Martin is a fictional character portrayed by child actor Jon Provost in the long-running television series Lassie . Provost debuted in the first episode of the fourth season, "The Runaway" , as the fictional foster child of farm woman Ellen Miller. Both the character and its portrayer were...
, a foster child living on the farm. Ruth is portrayed as a practical, competent woman, a loving wife and mother, and an active community member.
In 1957, Cloris Leachman joined the cast as Ruth but eventually her feuds with co-stars, her unwillingness to sign a contract, and other troubles forced show producer Jack Wrather
Jack Wrather
John Devereaux "Jack" Wrather, Jr. , was a petroleum millionaire who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties...
to fire her at the close of the season's filming. June Lockhart replaced her at the top of the 1958 season and remained in the role until the cancellation of her character in the first episode of the 1964 season.
Lockhart appeared as Ruth Martin in Campbell's Soup commercials, a feature film edited from a multi-part episode of the television show, and show-related merchandise such as Whitman novels and Dell comic books
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
. The actress received an Emmy nomination for her performance in the role in 1959.
Role
Ruth Martin is the wife of Paul Martin, a young agriculture college graduate and farmer. At the start of the series, the couple buys a small weatherbeaten farm on the outskirts of fictional Calverton from war-widowed Ellen Miller. The two adopt Timmy, a foster child living on the farm, and his companion, a rough collieRough Collie
The Rough Collie is a long coated breed of medium to large size dog that in its original form was a type of collie used and bred for herding in Scotland. Originating in the 1800's, it is now well known through the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and through the Lassie novel, movies, and...
called Lassie.
Throughout the series, Ruth performs housewifely chores such as cooking meals, ironing and mending, hanging laundry and baking cakes. She milks the cow, gathers eggs, drives about the county in the pickup truck, and participates in Sunday school carnivals, community square dances, and her son's cub scout troop. When her husband is out of the county on business, Ruth manages the farm with the occasional help of neighbor Cully Wilson.
Ruth's housekeeping is sometimes interrupted by Timmy's adventures. She helps him rescue a child trapped in a culvert rapidly filling with flood water, assists him in his 4-H projects, pitches a tent for their overnight accommodation at a Coon Dog Race, and flies into the Canadian wilderness when Timmy and Lassie are swept away in a hot air balloon. Marital affection between Ruth and her husband is only represented through brief kisses and hugs. The role ends when Ruth, Paul and Timmy emigrate to Australia, leaving Lassie with neighbor Cully Wilson.
Portrayal
Ruth Martin portrayer June Lockhart joked with co-star Hugh ReillyHugh Reilly
Hugh Reilly was an American actor, appearing on the Broadway stage, in films, and on television. He is best remembered for co-starring in the mid-1950s television series Lassie.-Early years and career:...
that she had been married to him longer than to any of her real husbands and commented after leaving the show, "In six sexless years of playing a country wife and mother, I was hardly ever allowed to kiss Hugh Reilly on the cheek."
In a conversation with John Barron of the New York Times in 2004, Lockhart was asked what Lassie was all about and why it remains something of a magical memory for those who were children in the 1950s and 1960s. She responded, "This was a fairy tale about people on a farm in which the dog solves all the problems in 22 minutes, in time for the last commercial. Often, if the scene had gone well, and maybe we hadn't gotten the dialogue quite right, if the dog was right, they'd print it."
Creation
LassieLassie (1954 TV series)
Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie named Lassie and her companions, human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 24, 1973...
debuted September 1954 in the Sunday 7:00 P.M. time slot. Former Broadway star Jan Clayton
Jan Clayton
Jan Clayton was a film, musical theatre, and television actress.-Career:...
portrayed Ellen Miller, a war-widow living on a farm with her young son Jeff (Tommy Rettig
Tommy Rettig
Thomas Noel "Tommy" Rettig was an American child actor,computer software engineer, and author. Rettig is best remembered for portraying the character "Jeff Miller" in the first three seasons of CBS's Lassie television series, from 1954–1957, later seen in syndicated re-runs as Jeff's Collie...
), and her father-in-law (George Cleveland
George Cleveland
George Alan Cleveland was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in over 180 films between 1933 and 1954.-Career:...
). The show was an instant hit, winning the Best Children's program Emmy in 1955 and receiving a host of additional honors.
As the 1957 season approached, Rettig wanted to leave the show and Clayton considered returning to her roots in musical theater. Producers planned to ease their characters out of the show while introducing new ones. Six-year old Jon Provost
Jon Provost
Jon Provost is a former child actor of film and television. He is best known for his role as young Timmy Martin in the CBS series, Lassie....
was hired to play Timmy, a foster child living on the farm. Rettig hoped the plot would be restructured to allow his departure, but producers were content with the status quo, the show was more popular than ever, and it was hoped Rettig and Clayton would reconsider.
Producers were forced to overhaul the show when actor George Cleveland died suddenly on July 17, 1957. The plot was revised with new characters Ruth and Paul Martin buying the Miller farm, and adopting Timmy and Lassie. Ellen and Jeff were written out of the show.
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
was quickly hired to play Ruth Martin. As the season's filming progressed, Leachman tired of playing a farm woman. She wouldn't sign a contract, and refused to do PR for the show's sponsor, Campbell's Soup, telling the company, "I make my own soup. I don't eat your's." Audiences found Leachman and co-star Jon Shepodd
Jon Shepodd
Jon Shepodd is an American actor.On television, he was the first actor to play the role of Paul Martin in the long running series Lassie, making his debut mid-fourth season opposite Cloris Leachman as his wife Ruth Martin....
as Paul Martin "too stiff". The two worked adult glances and touches such as holding hands, hugs, pecks on the lips into their on-screen performances in order to give their characters more depth. Toward the end of the season, George Chandler
George Chandler
George Chandler was an American actor best known for playing the character of "Uncle Petrie" on the television series Lassie...
was hired to play a grandfatherly character and to bring some warmth to the show, but Leachman was soon feuding with him; their disagreements appeared in the gossip columns. With ratings plummeting and public resentment aroused, show owner Jack Wrather
Jack Wrather
John Devereaux "Jack" Wrather, Jr. , was a petroleum millionaire who became a television producer and later diversified by investing in broadcast stations and resort properties...
summarily fired Leachman and Shepodd in February 1958 when filming for the 1957–1958 season was completed.
June Lockhart
Wanting to protect his $3,000,000 investment, Wrather began a search at once for two new stars to fill the roles of Ruth and Paul Martin. Casting Paul involved a good deal of effort, but Hugh ReillyHugh Reilly
Hugh Reilly was an American actor, appearing on the Broadway stage, in films, and on television. He is best remembered for co-starring in the mid-1950s television series Lassie.-Early years and career:...
, a Broadway actor with a reputation for being a solid and cooperative performer, was signed. Actress June Lockhart, who had appeared in the second of MGM's popular Lassie films (Son of Lassie
Son of Lassie
Son of Lassie is a 1945 feature film produced by MGM based on characters created by Eric Knight, and starring Peter Lawford, Donald Crisp, June Lockhart and Lassie...
), had been considered for the role of Ruth Martin before Leachman was signed. Lockhart however was working in New York at the time and declined the role. Eight months later, she had moved back to California and was working on both coasts. Once again, she was offered the role, but, stipulating she only would be interested in a one year commitment, producers were forced to decline. Then she reconsidered:
"...I thought about what I had been offered and I said to myself, 'What am I being so damn grand about? I have two children to support, the part they want me to play has a lot of dignity, the show is already on the air, I wouldn't have to film a pilot, and they have a sponsor. This is really a great gift that has been offered me. I'd be stupid not to at least look into it.'"
Lockhart was finally hired to play Ruth Martin and debuted with Reilly in the opener of the fifth season, "The Storm" (1958). No explanation was offered the audience regarding the new faces on the show. In order to protect the All-American perception of the show and its sponsor, Campbell's Soup, the producers wrote long clauses into cast contracts fobidding them from appearing in anything that would damage their wholesome image.
In 1963, the multi-part episode "The Journey" was filmed in the High Sierra
High Sierra
High Sierra is an early heist film and film noir written by W.R. Burnett and John Huston from the novel by Burnett. The movie features Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart and was directed by Raoul Walsh on location at Whitney Portal, halfway up Mount Whitney.The screenplay was co-written by Bogart's...
and later edited into a feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
called Lassie's Great Adventure. The plot follows Timmy and Lassie as they are swept away in a carnival hot air balloon. Ruth and Paul fly into the wilderness to be at hand when Timmy is found. The episode was the only episode filmed in color during the Ruth Martin seasons. Ratings skyrocketed.
Cancelation
As filming for the 1964 season approached, fourteen-year-old Jon ProvostJon Provost
Jon Provost is a former child actor of film and television. He is best known for his role as young Timmy Martin in the CBS series, Lassie....
chose not renew his contract. Stars Lockhart and Reilly were fired. With only Provost and the producers knowing the real reason for the changes, the press was told the show had done all the "boy and his dog" stories possible, but Lockhart speculated that Provost's mother wanted too much money. and Reilly later stated that the producers' decision was based upon trading four advanced salaries for future star Robert Bray
Robert Bray
Robert E. Bray was an American film and television actor probably best remembered for his role as the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the long-running CBS series Lassie.-Life and career:...
's starting salary. Lockhart loved her role as "Lassie's mother", but accepted her fate, telling columnist Bob Thomas:
"It was an actor's dream -- steady work, excellent pay, a wonderful cast and crew, and a chance to do a good scene now and then...Now I'm ready to go back playing all those tramps and neurotic and alcoholic women. They're good fun, but motherhood pays off better in the long run."
In "The Wayfarers", the first-part of the three-part 1964 season opener, producers shipped Ruth and her family off to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
where Paul would teach agriculture. Lassie was forced to remain in the States due to Australia's strict quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
regulations and would become the companion animal of Corey Stuart
Corey Stuart
Corey Stuart is a fictional character in the long running television series, Lassie . Stuart is a middle aged bachelor and a Ranger with the United States Forest Service. The character was portrayed by Robert Bray. Corey Stuart first appeared in the series as a one-shot character in the tenth...
, a forestry service worker. Lockhart commented, "We were supposed to go over there so that Paul could show the Australians how to grow things. We hadn't had a successful bean crop in six seasons. What could they possibly learn from us?"
The actress later recalled:
"Back then I didn't realize the power of my character. I didn't realize the image I had created and what it meant to so many people. Ruth was so underwritten, so what I was able to bring to it was what made it special to me. The looks, the affection, the pats on the head, the tone and inflection. I got to bring that to her character, and that was all I thought there was. I didn't know what was being received on the other side of the screen."
Lockhart joked with Reilly that she had been married to him longer than to any of her real husbands and commented after leaving the show, "In six sexless years of playing a country wife and mother, I was hardly ever allowed to kiss Hugh Reilly on the cheek."
According to one writer, "the character who really held the series and the family together was the mother". In commenting on her Ruth Martin character, Lockhart said, "Without a doubt it was the mother who ran the farm. Mother was the strong one. She was certainly a liberated woman who didn't take any guff off anyone."
Reprise
Lockhart and Provost reprised their Lassie roles in "Roots", the fourth episode of the syndicated television show, The New LassieThe New Lassie
The New Lassie was an American television series which aired in first-run syndication for two seasons beginning in 1989, reviving the beloved "Lassie" collie character who debuted in the 1943 film Lassie Come Home, followed by several more movies and a long-running earlier Lassie television series...
. After the episode, Ruth disappeared and was never mentioned again. In "Roots", the viewer learns Ruth and Paul never properly adopted Timmy, and he was forced to remain in the States while his parents emigrated to Australia. Timmy was then adopted by a family called the McCulloughs.
Merchandising
Adventure Books, Golden Books, coloring books, puzzles, Halloween costumes, and other items were all manufactured around the show. Ruth Martin appeared in several Lassie Dell comic booksDell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
as well as in Whitman novels, and a Whitman punch out book
Punch out book
A punch out book is a large toy book printed on stiff card or cardboard usually comprising several pages of perforated, colorfully printed figures or shapes. The figures can be gently "punched" from the pages with the fingers and then assembled into various objects...
. Ruth Martin appeared in television ads for Campbell's Soup.
Ratings
In its seventeen year run on CBS, Lassie placed first in its Sunday 7:00 p.m. EST time slot. The highest rankings in the Nielsen ratingsNielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
for Lassie were the Martin family years: #24 in 1957, #22 in 1958, #15 in 1959, #15 in 1961, #21 in 1962, #13 in 1963, and #17 in 1964. The only year the show did not climb into the top twenty-five was 1960, when it ran opposite Walt Disney Presents on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and Shirley Temple Theatre on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. With the departure of the Martin family in the eleventh season, the show began a steady decline in ratings.
Nominations and honors
June Lockhart received a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6362 Hollywood Boulevard for her television work. The actress also received a 1959 Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Continuing Character) in a Dramatic Series for Lassie.