Phyllis Coates, the first Lois Lane television ever saw, has died. She was 96.
Her daughter, Laura Press, confirmed her passing to The Hollywood Reporter on Oct. 12, sharing that the actress died on Oct. 11 of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills—a retirement community not far from Los Angeles that houses 200 folks that once worked on or off screen in the “extremely fickle industry,” according to a profile by NPR.
The actress first appeared in the first full-length feature film to star the DC hero, 1951’s dark sci-fi movie Superman and the Mole Men, the success of which soon led to a syndicated television series, Adventures of Superman. Coates portrayed the journalist for 26 episodes before departing the series at the conclusion of the first season despite the producer offering her a hefty salary increase to return.
Unfortunately, she’d already signed on to film a pilot for another series, which ultimately never went to air, and had to pass. She was replaced by Noel Neill, who had played the character in previous Superman Columbia serials, and the show lasted another five seasons.
Throughout her career, she’d be seen in series like The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, and Leave It to Beaver, and in 1994 appeared as Lois Lane’s mother in an episode of ABC’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. She also appeared in several classic films, like I Was a Teenage Frankenstein and Girls in Prison.
Four-times divorced, Coates is survived by daughter Zoe and granddaughter Olivia in addition to Laura.
