June Harding

{{Short description|American actress (1937–2019)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = June Harding

| image = June-harding-resize.jpg

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1937|9|7}}

| birth_place = Emporia, Virginia, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2019|3|22|1937|9|7}}

| death_place = Deer Isle, Maine, U.S.

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1962–1970

| spouse = Gary Thomas

| website =

| imagesize =

| birthname = June Allison Harding

| othername =

| domesticpartner =

| awards = Theatre World Award (1960-1961)

| alma_mater = Richmond Professional Institute

}}

June Harding (September 7, 1937 – March 22, 2019) was an American actress who appeared in several 1960s TV shows. She is best remembered for her role opposite Hayley Mills and Rosalind Russell in the 1966 film The Trouble with Angels. Like Mills, Harding did not appear in the film's sequel, Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows.

Early years

Harding was born in Emporia, Virginia, and graduated from Greensville County High School{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=June Harding, Actress in 'The Trouble With Angels,' Dies at 81 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/june-harding-dead-trouble-with-angels-actress-was-81-1198182 |accessdate=4 June 2019 |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=March 29, 2019 |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20190604011046/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/june-harding-dead-trouble-with-angels-actress-was-81-1198182 |archivedate=4 June 2019 |url-status=live }} in 1955. She earned a bachelor's in acting from Richmond Professional Institute.{{cite journal |title=June Harding,78 |journal=Classic Images |date=May 2019 |issue=527 |page=44}}

After graduation, she went to New York. She studied acting under Lonny Chapman at The Theater Studio of New York. She took ballet and practiced yoga.{{Citation needed |date=July 2021}}

Career

In the summer of 1961, Harding acted in a stock company at the Cecilwood Theater in Fishkill, New York.{{cite news|title=(photo caption)|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18182671/june_harding/|work=Poughkeepsie Journal|date=June 25, 1961|location=New York, Poughkeepsie|page=1C|via = Newspapers.com|accessdate = March 11, 2018}} {{Open access}}

In New York, she landed a recurring role on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns. Harding appeared in the off-Broadway productions of The Innocents Abroad, The Boy Friend and Cry of the Raindrop, for which she won a Daniel Blum Theater World Award.{{cite web|title=June Harding|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/june-harding-106897#Awards|website=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|access-date=7 November 2021|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190716064350/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/june-harding-106897#Awards|archive-date=16 July 2019}}

In December 1961, she made her Broadway debut as Liz Michaelson in the comedy Take Her, She's Mine.{{cite web|title=June Harding|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/june-harding-106897|website=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League|accessdate=11 March 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311030648/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/june-harding-106897|archivedate=11 March 2018}} In Take Her She’s Mine, Harding played Art Carney’s youngest daughter. Elizabeth Ashley played her sister and won a Tony Award for her performance.{{Citation needed |date=July 2021}}

Harding was a regular cast member on The Richard Boone Show television anthology on NBC in 1963-1964.{{cite book|last1=Brooks|first1=Tim|last2=Marsh|first2=Earle F.|title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present|date=2009|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|isbn=9780307483201|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&dq=%22June+Harding%22+actress&pg=PA1153|accessdate=11 March 2018|language=en|page=1153}} She appeared in a 1964 episode of The Cara Williams Show and in two episodes of The Fugitive: as Joanna Mercer ("Moon Child", 1965) and as Cathy ("Ten Thousand Pieces of Silver", 1966).

Her Universal made-for-TV movie called Dial Hot Line spawned a series about an inner city psychiatrist. Harding continued her role of Ann on the ABC medical drama Matt Lincoln in 1970-1971.{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows|date=1999|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc.|isbn=978-0-7864-4513-4|page=667}}

Later life and death

Harding married Gary Thomas in the 1970s. She retired from show business in the late 1970s and the couple moved to Maine. They separated years later. She settled in Blue Hill, Maine where she became an artist.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Harding died in hospice care on March 22, 2019, at the age of 81, of natural causes. Her memorial service was held April 13, 2019, at 11 a.m. at Monumental United Methodist Church in Emporia, Virginia.{{cite web|title=Obituary|url=http://www.richmond.com/news/plus/june-harding-a-stage-film-and-tv-actress-from-emporia/article_e3a4a6ec-726f-586c-b18a-d7ac7fc3ab14.html|accessdate=28 March 2019|newspaper=Richmond Times-Dispatch|page=1|date=26 March 2019}}

Recognition

Harding received a Theatre World Award for her acting in Cry of the Raindrop in 1960–1961.{{cite web|title=Theatre World Award Recipients|url=http://www.theatreworldawards.org/past-recipients.html|website=Theatre World Awards|accessdate=11 March 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311033240/http://www.theatreworldawards.org/past-recipients.html|archivedate=11 March 2018}}

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable"
YearTitleRoleNotes
1966The Trouble with AngelsRachel Devery
1970Dial Hot LineAnnTV film

References

{{reflist}}