Phyllis Coates, who played Lois Lane on TV’s Superman, dies at 96

Phyllis Coates, who played reporter Lois Lane, one of the most enduring characters in popular culture, in the theatrical film and first season of the popular TV series “The Adventures of Superman,” poses Wednesday in Woodland Hills, Calif. He passed away. 96.

His daughter, Laura Press, confirmed his death at the Motion Picture and Television Fund retirement community.

Ms. Coates was a busy, if not famous, actress when she became the second Lois on screen. Noel Neal reprized the role in two 15-part film series, Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), in which Kirk Alyn played the Man of Steel. was acting.

“But when there was talk of making a theatrical film called Superman and the Mole Man, Kirk Alyn no longer wanted to play the role,” said Larry T., author of Truth, Justice, and Justice. Ward says. The American Way,” Neal Biography said in a phone interview. “He felt he was being typecast. So instead of just replacing Superman, they replaced the entire cast.”

In “The Mole Men” (1951), Lois and her fellow Daily Planet reporter Superman Clark Kent (played by George Reeves in place of Mr. Allyn) have two small Witness the panic of a small town with a flashing bald spot. Creatures emerge from their nests deep inside an oil well.

The following year, the television series “The Adventures of Superman” premiered, starring Mr. Coates, Mr. Reeves and Jack Larson as child reporter Jimmy Olsen, and John Hamilton as Perry White, the Daily Planet’s grumpy top editor. I appeared on the show.

Ms. Coates’ Lois had a serious and sometimes bullish personality. However, she sometimes needed help from Superman. Lois was the quintessential damsel in distress (and even more so when Ms. Neal played her). This was the case when she was trapped in a land mine, held down by a man with dynamite tied to a shelf outside a newspaper building, and captured by thugs who were smuggling fugitives into Canada.

The series was not lavishly produced, as evidenced by the characters’ wardrobes remaining largely unchanged.

“Oh, I had a suit! I’ll wear one suit and a double in case there’s an egg on it!” She told the Los Angeles Times when she was cast as the other Lois, Teri Hatcher’s mother, in an episode of “The Adventures.” “George’s dresser dressed me. My make-up man was Harry Thomas, who did make-up for every monster in Hollywood.”

“She knew how much fans would enjoy this visceral nod to her work on the original television series,” Hatcher said in a statement.

Ward said Coates remained with the show for its first season, but did not return in the fall of 1953 because it was not ultimately picked up for series because he was committed to filming a pilot.

In Tom Weaver’s book Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes (2006), Ms. Coates says that Whitney Ellsworth, the producer of The Adventures of Superman, told her that she was “four or five times as big as I am.” He was quoted as saying, “I offered a reward of She asked if I was coming back, and she said, “She really wanted to get out of ‘Superman.'”

Press said difficult working conditions and a desire to take on other roles led to Coates leaving the series.

Ms. Neal, who played Lois until the series ended in 1958, returns.

Mr. Reeves died a year later from his gunshot wounds. The death was ruled a suicide.

Phyllis Coates was born Gypsy Ann Stell on January 15, 1927, in Wichita Falls, Texas, to William Stell, known as Rush, and Jackie Everts. After her high school graduation, Gypsy moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as a chorus girl on shows produced by Earl Carroll and performed skits on variety revues. She also performed on the USO tour of Europe. In 1948 she signed a contract with Warner Brothers.

Mr. Coates’ credits include long-running comedy short series such as “So You Want to Be a Baby Sitter” and “So You Want to Be a Baby Sitter,” as well as Alice, wife of Joe McDokes (played by George O’Hanlon).・McDawkes is appearing. She was also the star of the elephant-riding drama series “Panther Girl of Kongo” (1955). She guest-starred in episodes of television series such as “Gunsmoke,” “Rawhide,” “Perry Mason,” and “Leave It to Beaver,” which was directed by her then-husband, Norman Toker. appeared in.

“She received a lot of fan mail, mostly about ‘Superman,’ but also about the westerns she did with Whip Wilson and Johnny Mack Brown,” Press said. Told.

In addition to Press, Coates is survived by another daughter, Zoe Christopher, and a granddaughter. Marriages to Richard Baer (McDawkes short film director), Robert Nelms, Mr. Talker, and Howard Press all ended in her divorce. Her son David Tooker died in 2011.

In 1953, when she was still playing Lois Lane, Ms. Coates told the Times that her 4-year-old daughter (like many fans) was obsessed with Superman’s Clark Kent disguise, even if it was just a pair of glasses. However, he said he wondered why he would deceive people. She wore a hat and suit over her Superman costume.

Her daughter Coates said: “I don’t understand why people can’t see through Superman’s disguise on broadcast television. She thinks I’m pretty stupid about the whole thing.”