She was not on the list.
Noel Neill, who played foolhardy Daily Planet reporter Lois
Lane on the 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman, then walked away from show
business, has died. She was 95.
Neill died Sunday at her home in Tucson, Ariz., after a long
illness, her friend, manager and biographer, Larry Thomas Ward, told The
Hollywood Reporter.
Neill became the first actress to play the legendary damsel
in distress on the screen when she starred opposite Kirk Alyn as the Man of
Steel in a 15-chapter serial for Columbia Pictures that played in movie
theaters in 1948.
The pair then reunited in 1950 for another serial, Atom Man
vs. Superman, which spanned 15 chapters as well.
Phyllis Coates played Lois in the first season (1952) of the
syndicated Adventures of Superman, but when she committed to another project
and could not return to the series, Neill reclaimed the role in 1953. She was
rescued a countless number of times by George Reeves’ Superman in 78 episodes
until the show’s conclusion in 1958.
Neill’s favorite episode was said to be the 1956 installment
“The Wedding of Superman,” where the hero proposes to her. But alas, it was
only a dream.
“She had this wonderful, perky touch to Lois Lane,” her late
co-star Jack Larson (who played Jimmy Olson) said in 2003, “and she could
basically do everything in one take, which is what they liked. If you blew a
scene and had to do four takes, everyone was disgruntled.”
Neill, who earned $225 an episode, quit acting after the
series ended in 1958. “I just figured I’d worked enough, I didn’t have any
great ambition,” she told The New York Times in a 2006 interview. “Basically,
I’m a beach bum. I was married, we lived near the beach, that was enough for
me.”
Neill was born on Nov. 20, 1920, which was Thanksgiving Day.
Her father was an editor for the Minneapolis Star Tribune and wanted his
daughter to become a reporter, arranging her to write for Women’s Wear Daily,
but she wanted to be a performer. She played banjo in a musical trio on the
fair circuit, and during a visit to Southern California, she got a job singing
at a restaurant at the Del Mar racetrack.
Bing Crosby, who was a Del Mar shareholder, spotted her and
helped her land a contract with Paramount Pictures, for whom she appeared in
bit roles in such films as Henry Aldrich’s Little Secret (1944), with Crosby in
Here Come the Waves (1944) and in The Blue Dahlia (1946).
Later, you could spot her in The Big Clock (1948), the Charlie
Chan film The Sky Dragon (1949), The Greatest Show on Earth (1950), American in
Paris (1951), Invasion U.S.A. with Coates (1952) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(1953).
The 5-foot-2 Neill, who had dark red hair and blue-gray
eyes, was past 25 when she played bobbysoxer Betty Rogers in a series of breezy
“Teenager” musicals for Monogram Pictures that included Junior Prom (1946),
Freddie Steps Out (1946), High School Hero (1946), Vacation Days (1947), Sarge
Goes to College (1947), Smart Politics (1948) and Campus Sleuth (1948).
Sam Katzman, who had produced several of these films,
thought she’s be just right for Lois in the first Superman serial, the first
time the superhero was portrayed outside the comics or radio. (Later, Katzman
produced the 1949 serial Batman and Robin, starring Robert Lowery as the Caped
Crusader.)
“I had never heard of Superman,” Neill said in a 2003
interview. “Back then, comics were read mostly by boys.”
Neill had fulfilled her father’s wish that she become a
reporter.
She kept her connection to the character when she briefly
appeared as the mother of Lois (Margot Kidder) in Superman (1978), the hero’s
return to the big screen that starred Christopher Reeve. (Alyn played Lois’
father in the Richard Donner film.)
Neill also showed up on a 1991 episode of the syndicated
series Superboy, and she was Gertrude Vanderworth, who on her death bed signs
all her money over to bad guy Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey), in the opening scene
of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns (2006), starring Brandon Routh.
Neill lectured at colleges and was a hit at comic-book
conventions and fan gatherings through the decades, and in 2003 she was the
subject of Truth, Justice and the American Way: The Life and Times of Noel
Neill, the Original Lois Lane, an authorized biography by Ward.
“She did whatever she wanted to do,” Ward said. “That was
the beauty of her skill. Ultimately, only she truly knew what was best for her,
and that came out time and again. She was very smart, quite astute about the
acting business."
In 2010, the real-life city of Metropolis, Ill., unveiled a
life-size bronze statue of Lois modeled on Neill, who came in from California
for the occasion. (She also lived in Metropolis briefly a few years ago, Ward
said, before moving to Tucson.)
Located along the Ohio River, Metropolis, Ill., was founded
and named in 1839, long before the fictional Metropolis was first identified as
Superman’s home in Action Comics in 1939. In addition to the Lois statue,
there’s one of the Man of Steel in the middle of Superman Square a couple of
blocks away.
Filmography
Actress (77 credits)
2016 Surge of Power:
Revenge of the Sequel
Aunt Lois Williamson
2013 Superman and the
Secret Planet (Video)
Lois Lane
2006 Superman Returns
Gertrude Vanderworth
2004 Surge of Power:
The Stuff of Heroes
Aunt Lois
2004 Hindsight Is
20/20... (Short)
Tourist (uncredited)
1991 Superboy (TV
Series)
Alexis
- Paranoia (1991) ... Alexis
1988 Superman 50th
Anniversary (TV Movie documentary)
Ella Lane - Lois Lane's Mother
1978 Superman
Ella Lane (uncredited)
1953-1958 Adventures
of Superman (TV Series)
Lois Lane
- All That Glitters (1958) ... Lois Lane
- The Perils of Superman (1958) ... Lois Lane
- The Brainy Burro (1958) ... Lois Lane
- Three in One (1958) ... Lois Lane
- Superman's Wife (1958) ... Lois Lane
Show all 78 episodes
1954 Stamp Day for
Superman (Short)
Lois Lane
1954 The Lawless
Rider
Nancy James
1954 Public Defender
(TV Series)
Betty
- Let Justice Be Done (1954) ... Betty
1953 Gentlemen Prefer
Blondes
Passenger (uncredited)
1952 Invasion, U.S.A.
Second Airline Ticket Agent
1952 Montana Incident
Frances Martin
1952 Racket Squad (TV
Series)
Peggy Dawson
- The Long Shot (1952) ... Peggy Dawson
1952 The Greatest
Show on Earth
Noel (uncredited)
1951 Submarine
Command
Mrs. Sue Carlson (uncredited)
1951 Fireside Theatre
(TV Series)
- The Seven Graces (1951)
1951 Whistling Hills
Beth Fairchild
1951 An American in
Paris
American Girl (uncredited)
1951 Abilene Trail
Mary Dawson
1951 The Lone Ranger
(TV Series)
Molly Niles
- Letter of the Law (1951) ... Molly Niles
1950 The Cisco Kid
(TV Series)
Rita Shannon
- Chain Lightning (1950) ... Rita Shannon
1950 Atom Man vs.
Superman
Lois Lane
1949 Red, Hot and
Blue
Actress in Theatre Group (uncredited)
1949 The James
Brothers of Missouri
Peg Royer
1949 Forgotten Women
Ellen Reid
1949 The Sky Dragon
Jane Marshall
1949 Son of a Badman
Vicki Burley
1949 The Cactus
Cut-Up (Short)
Errol's Daughter
1949 Gun Runner
Jessica Harris
1948 When My Baby
Smiles at Me
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
1948 Adventures of
Frank and Jesse James
Judy Powell
1948 Music Man
Kitty
1948 Beyond Glory
Party Girl (uncredited)
1948 Superman
Lois Lane
1948 Campus Sleuth
Betty Rogers
1948 Are You with It?
Terry
1948 The Big Clock
Elevator Operator (uncredited)
1948 Glamour Girl
Gertrude
1948 Man or Mouse
(Short)
Sue Jones, Hercules' Daughter
1948 Smart Politics
Betty Rogers
1947 Brick Bradford
Lula - Native Girl (uncredited)
1947 Sarge Goes to
College
Betty Rogers
1947 Smash-Up: The
Story of a Woman
Girl at Party (uncredited)
1947 Over the Santa
Fe Trail
Taffy Neill
1947 Vacation Days
Betty Rogers
1946 High School Hero
Betty Rogers
1946 Freddie Steps
Out
Betty Rogers
1946 College Queen
(Short)
Cindy Harris, College Queen
1946/I Junior Prom
Betty Rogers
1946 The Well Groomed
Bride
WAVE (uncredited)
1946 The Blue Dahlia
Nolie - Hatcheck Girl (uncredited)
1945 The Stork Club
Jacqueline Billingsley (uncredited)
1945 Duffy's Tavern
School Kid (uncredited)
1945 You Hit the Spot
(Short)
Muriel / Echo
1945 Bring on the
Girls
Cigarette Girl (uncredited)
1944 Here Come the
Waves
Dorothy
1944 Rainbow Island
Lona's Companion (uncredited)
1944 Our Hearts Were
Young and Gay
Girl (uncredited)
1944 Are These Our
Parents?
Terry Salisbury
1944 Fun Time (Short)
Flora Daley
1944 Henry Aldrich's
Little Secret
Daisy
1944 Standing Room
Only
Secretary (uncredited)
1943 Let's Face It
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
1943 Young Ideas
Co-ed (uncredited)
1943 Lady of
Burlesque
Chorine (uncredited)
1943 Prairie Chickens
Girl on Bus Tour (uncredited)
1943 Salute for Three
Gracie O'Connor
1942 Holiday Inn
Dancer, 'Abraham' Number (uncredited)
1942 Henry and Dizzy
Jean
1942 Miss Annie Rooney
Marty's Party Guest (uncredited)
1942 She's in the
Army
WAC Enlistee (uncredited)
1942 The Remarkable
Andrew
Congratulatory Girl in Courtroom (uncredited)
1941 Miss Polly
School Girl (uncredited)
1941 Henry Aldrich
for President
Mad Youth (1940) -
Teenager (uncredited)
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