Phyllis Coates, sometimes referred to as "the first Lois Lane" because she played the role in the first season of "The Adventures of Superman," has passed away at age 96. That description is not totally accurate; Joan Alexander played the part on radio and in two sets of animated cartoons (1940s and 1960s), and Noel Neill, probably the better-known Lois, first played her in a 1948 movie serial with Kirk Alyn as the Man of Steel.
Coates played Lois as a hard-nosed reporter not afraid to give a crook a piece of her mind. She is also remembered for a scream that could wake the dead. She played Lois in "Superman and the Mole Men," the 1951 film that served as the pilot for the series (and aired as the two-part "The Unknown People") before playing in the first 26 episodes of the series. Not sure if the show was going to resume production, she took other offers and Noel Neill returned to play a much-softer Lois in 1953. She did return to play Lois' mother in an episode of "Lois & Clark" in the 1990s.
Coates co-starred with George O'Hanlon (the voice of George Jetson) in a series of "Joe McDoakes" movie shorts (check her Wikipedia site for a list of her other movies) and in 1958 played the mother in the syndicated sitcom "This Is Alice," about a female Dennis the Menace.
George Reeves even insisted she get equal billing with him; the credits on her "Superman" episodes read, "Starring George Reeves and Phyllis Coates." Noel Neill did not get that sort of treatment. Neither Reeves nor Coates thought the show would do anything for their careers. But it made them icons with those of us who grew up with the show.
Coates played Lois as a hard-nosed reporter not afraid to give a crook a piece of her mind. She is also remembered for a scream that could wake the dead. She played Lois in "Superman and the Mole Men," the 1951 film that served as the pilot for the series (and aired as the two-part "The Unknown People") before playing in the first 26 episodes of the series. Not sure if the show was going to resume production, she took other offers and Noel Neill returned to play a much-softer Lois in 1953. She did return to play Lois' mother in an episode of "Lois & Clark" in the 1990s.
Coates co-starred with George O'Hanlon (the voice of George Jetson) in a series of "Joe McDoakes" movie shorts (check her Wikipedia site for a list of her other movies) and in 1958 played the mother in the syndicated sitcom "This Is Alice," about a female Dennis the Menace.
George Reeves even insisted she get equal billing with him; the credits on her "Superman" episodes read, "Starring George Reeves and Phyllis Coates." Noel Neill did not get that sort of treatment. Neither Reeves nor Coates thought the show would do anything for their careers. But it made them icons with those of us who grew up with the show.