Noel Neill
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Noel Neill (born November 25, 1920 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an American actress. She has played Lois Lane in more venues and instances than any other actress.
- She first played the role in the 1948 and 1950 Saturday movie serials with Kirk Alyn playing Clark Kent/Superman.
- She continued to play the role in the television program Adventures of Superman (from the second season on) opposite George Reeves.
- She has a cameo in the 1978 film Superman: The Movie as Lois Lane's mother (Kirk Alyn played Lois' father in the same short scene).
- She has a cameo in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman alongside Jack Larson (Jimmy Olsen) as an office worker at the Daily Planet.
- Noel appeared at the Metropolis, Il. Superman Festival. This festival was shown in a featurette on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
- She plays the role of Gertrude Vanderworth, a dying widow in Superman Returns (2006).
Unlike Phyllis Coates, the first TV Lois Lane, who distanced herself from the role for the most part and eschewed public attention, Noel Neill embraced the role and exploited it graciously. She made frequent talks on college campuses during the 1970s, when interest in the series was revived, and endeared herself to her audiences with her warmth and humor.
She and Jack Larson donated their time to make commentaries for a couple of episodes on the second season DVD which was released in January, 2006. Noel remarked that a frequent question from her audience was, "How come you never recognized that Clark Kent was Superman, even when he had his glasses off?" She said her stock answer was, "Because I wanted to keep my job!"
[edit] Notes
- In the 1956 episode, "Tomb of Zaharan", Lois Lane was stated to be 26 years old, exactly 10 years younger than Neill was at the time.
