This Article is From Jul 05, 2016

Noel Neill, First Actress to Play Lois Lane, Dies at 95

Noel Neill, First Actress to Play Lois Lane, Dies at 95

This image was posted on Facebook by Jim Nolt

Highlights

  • Noel Neill's first appearance as Lois Lane was in 1948's Superman
  • She played Lois Lane's mother in 1978's Superman
  • She dies in arizona after prolonged illness at the age of 95
Los Angeles: Noel Neill, the first actress to play Superman's girlfriend Lois Lane onscreen, died on July 3 in Tucson, Arizona after prolonged illness. She was 95. Her manager and biographer Larry Ward shared a statement on Facebook, saying that she "maintained that bright, perky and engaging personality up until her death", reports Variety magazine.

Her first appearance as Lois Lane was in the 1948 movie serial Superman, which showed her talent for humour. She then appeared in the sequel Atom Man vs Superman. The Fifties television series Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, gave her a longtime role as the intrepid reporter, and she said later in interviews that she simply played herself.

She returned several times to appear in Superman films as Lois Lane's mother - in the 1978 Superman, appearing in the Superboy series and in the Brandon Routh's 2006 Superman Returns.

Born in Minneapolis, she originally thought of becoming a journalist like her newspaper editor father before playing one on screen. She modeled and sang while in her teens, then wrote for Women's Wear Daily before moving into acting and singing.

Soon after moving here, she was hired by Bing Crosby to sing at the racetrack in Del Mar, California and then signed a contract with Paramount.

She appeared in films including Mad Youth and Are These Our Parents and then appeared in Music Man and in a series of film and TV Westerns with directors including Vincent Minnelli, Cecil B DeMille and Hal Roach.

Ms Neill received a Golden Boot award. A statue of her as Lois Lane was dedicated in Metropolis, Illinois in 2010.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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