Neil would revise the role for television alongside George Reeves between 1953 and 1958.
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Noel Neill, the first actress to portray “Superman’s” Lois Lane on film and then reclaimed the role on television, died Sunday in Tucson, Arizona at 95, reported The Hollywood Reporter.
She did little acting afterward, but in the 1970s, with the advent of a new age of Superman movies, occasionally made film appearances. Few of her fans actually knew her real name, nearly always simply calling her “Lois” to which she would unfailing answer with a bright smile and a kind word.
Neill was in her late 20s when playing Lois Lane and has described Reeves as a “southern gentleman”.
She also had a small role in 2006’s Superman Returns, alongside Jack Larson who played Jimmy Olsen in the TV series. A knock on the door about 7 pm found, oh my gosh, Lois Lane.in the flesh. There was no substantial work until 1948, when Columbia Pictures borrowed Neill to make 15 episodes of a comic book-based movie serial about a man from another planet who discovers he has super-human strength and is impervious to bullets. Both she and Alyn reprised their roles for the 1950 film Atom Man vs. Superman.
Noel Neill also played Lois Lane’s mother in the 1978 Superman movie and also had a cameo in the 2006 movie “Superman Returns” as Lex Luthor’s dying wife.
A funeral will be private, with a public memorial held later this year.
Instead, she played one, and did so with gusto.
Ward recounts Noelle Neill’s life in a handsome tribute to her memory. With that, Neill ended her career. The Adventures of Superman paired her with George Reeves.
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Neill was the daughter of a newspaper editor and has actually done news writing for Women’s Wear Daily, so she was right at home as Lois Lane and had such a deep connection with the character she often told interviewers she was basically playing herself. While singing in a restaurant at the Del Mar race track, Neill was spotted by Bing Crosby, who helped her land a contract with Paramount Pictures.
