The original Lois Lane, Noel Neill has died at 95

The first Lois Lane, Noel Neill has died at the age of 95 years, in Tucson Arizona after struggling with a long illness.  Her passing was announced by editor Jim Nolt, editor of a website that is dedicated to the 1950s television programme that so many loved.

She left a legacy in Lois Lane’s character that many women followed in the footsteps of, and that we will always remember.

Neill was a beautiful, smart and petite redheaded woman, who was cast opposite Kirk Alyn, the star of Superman.   They spent many years as co-workers at the Daily Planet.

Noel Neill first played the role of Lois Lane in 1948 in the original Superman film and again in 1950 in Atom Man vs Superman.  She later moved onto the television series The Adventures of Superman although was not cast when the show was first set up.  The original TV Lois Lane stepped out of the role after one season and Neill stepped in to the job that made America’s most longstanding TV series.

She gave up her role eventually on the front line as Lois on TV, only to return to the franchise in 1978 as Lois Lan’s mother, Ella.  She again came back in 2006 as Lex Luther’s wife Gertrude in Superman Returns.

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.

Neill was born on November 25, 1920, in Minneapolis and after high school she travelled to California and found a job as a singer at a restaurant which led her start with Paramount Movie Studio.

Do you remember Noel Neill?