Phyllis Coates, The First Actress to Play Lois Lane on Television, Dies at the Age of 96

Summary

• Phyllis Coates, known for her portrayal of Lois Lane in the original Adventures of Superman TV series, has died at the age of 96.
• Coates played Lois Lane for only one season, alongside George Reeves as Clark Kent. Both actors appeared in the film Superman and the Mole-Men prior to the TV series.
• Coates described harsh working conditions on set and declined a higher salary to continue playing Lois Lane. She had a successful career spanning five decades and appeared in various films and TV shows.

In sad news for fans of classic iterations of Superman, actress Phyllis Coates has died at the age of 96. According to her daughter, Laura Press, the prolific thespian passed away of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 11 (per The Hollywood Reporter). Coates was best-known for portraying the Daily Planet’s intrepid reporter Lois Lane on the television series Adventures of Superman (1952-1958).

Coates holds the honor of portraying the first live-action, TV version of Lois Lane, but she only played the character for a single season on Adventures of Superman — back when the show was shot in black-and-white rather than color. Coates starred alongside her on-screen Clark Kent, who was played by George Reeves. However, both actors made their very first appearances as their respective DC characters prior to stepping foot onto the set of the Adventures of Superman in 1952.

In 1951, Coates and Reeves played Lois and Clark/Superman respectively in the film Superman and the Mole-Men. Coates recalled the ease of the casting process for the movie in an interview posted by the Superman Homepage. Coates said:

They auditioned a lot of people. I read for it, then was called back a second time. They felt I had the quality. It was that simple.

Related: Every Live-Action Performance of Lois Lane, Ranked

Phyllis Coates Leaves a Lasting Legacy

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Superman alumna Phyllis Coates has the distinction of being only the second actress to ever take up the mantle of Lois Lane, with Noel Neill being the first. But Coates didn’t want to continue in the role beyond one season of Adventures of Superman. In the 2006 book, Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Producers and Writers of the 1940s through 1960s, Coates described the harsh working conditions she endured while playing Lois Lane. Coates said:

“We were nearly blown up, beaten up, exploded, exploited — I guess it was because we were young and dumb, but we put up with a lot of stuff. Not too long ago I saw an episode where I got knocked out! [Producer] Whitney Ellsworth offered me about four or five times what I was getting if I’d come back. But I really wanted to get out of Superman.”

The episode Coates referred to literally getting “knocked out” in was Night of Terror. And because of time constraints and budget costs, the on-screen punch that rendered Coates unconscious was left on film for all to see! Coates made $375 an episode for her work on Adventures of Superman (per IMDb). And Coates was the last surviving cast member from the Man of Steel’s classic television series

Coates’ career is an expansive and impressive one that spans five decades in Hollywood. Best known for her B-Movie performances, Coates also starred in over 20 of the Joe McDoakes’ So You Want… comedy titles, including So You Want to be in Politics and So You Want a Television Set. And in real-life, her first husband, Richard L. Bare, was the producer and director of the So You Want… shorts. Some of Coates’ more recognizable roles came in films like I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and Panther Girl of the Kongo. Coates said of her Panther Girl performance in the same book:

I had to ride an elephant all day. And my legs were raw from the hair on the elephant — I never knew until then that an elephant even had hair!

Coates returned to the Superman mythology in 1994 when she appeared as Lois Lane’s mom, Ellen Lane, in the Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman episode titled The House of Luthor. Coates was born in Wichita Falls, Texas on January 15, 1927, as Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell. The actress is survived by her two daughters (Laura, Zoe) and a granddaughter, Olivia.

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