Noel Neill, Superman's Original Lois Lane, Dies

The actress was the first person to play the Daily Planet reporter, starring alongside George Reeves in the 1950s TV show.

Actress Noel Neill, who played Lois Lane in the Adventures Of Superman television series, has died at the age of 95.

Jim Holt, the owner of The Adventures Continue website dedicated to the show, said Neill died at her home in Tucson, Arizona, on Sunday after a long illness.

Neill was born in Minneapolis but travelled to California after high school where a job at the Del Mar racetrack led to a contract with the Paramount movie studio.

After a series of small film roles in the 1940s, she was borrowed by Columbia Pictures to make 15 episodes of a comic book-based series about the Man of Steel.

Kirk Alyn was cast as the star of Superman and the petite Neill was Lois Lane, his friend and colleague at the Daily Planet.
They reprised their roles in another serial, Superman And The Mole Men, but neither was cast when Adventures Of Superman was adapted for television.

When the original TV Lois Lane, Phyllis Coates, left the show after one season, Neill stepped back into the role that would define her career and make her part of one of American television's most enduring series.

The show hit the air just as television was becoming a social force and became a favourite of generations of children, with a long life through reruns.

The TV Superman, as played by George Reeves, was faster than a speeding bullet in his blue tights and red cape as he fought a never-ending battle for "truth, justice and the American way".
Neill said she was often asked why Lane never caught on to Kent's secret identity, and would respond: "I didn't want to lose my job."

Adventures Of Superman went off the air in 1958. Plans for a new season ended in 1959 with the gunshot death of Reeves, which was ruled a suicide. With that, Neill ended her career.
"I just figured I'd worked enough," she told the New York Times in 2006. "I didn't have any great ambition. Basically, I'm a beach bum. I was married, we lived near the beach. That was enough for me."

When the Superman franchise was revived in 1978 as a big-budget movie with Christopher Reeve in the starring role, Neill made a cameo appearance as Lane's mother.

In 2006, she had a quickie role in Superman Returns, as did Jack Larson, who had played Jimmy Olsen in the TV series.

Neill also served as the model for the statue of Lois Lane, poised with pen and notepad, that was unveiled in 2010 in Metropolis, Illinois, which promotes itself as Superman's hometown.