Skip to main content
Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
More On:
celebrity deaths
-
Tori Spelling Reflects On Her “Last Conversation” With Shannen Doherty Before She Died: “I’m Super Grateful For That”
-
R.I.P. Autumn Crittendon: ’16 And Pregnant’ Alum Dead At 27
-
Chadwick Boseman’s Last Tweet Before His Untimely Death Was In Support Of Kamala Harris, Making Fans Emotional: “Wish You Were Here”
-
Cause Of Death Revealed In Tragic Passing Of ’16 And Pregnant’ Star Sean Garinger
Phyllis Coates, the first woman to star as Lois Lane on TV, died at age 96 on Wednesday (Oct. 11) of natural causes, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Coates’ daughter Laura Press confirmed her mother’s passing to THR, telling the outlet that she died at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, a neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Coates is best known for playing Lois Lane alongside George Reeves’ Superman in the 1951 Superman and the Mole-Men. Both Coates and Reeves ultimately starred in the 1952 ABC TV series The Adventures of Superman. However, Coates left the show after Season 1.
Coates’ portrayal set the groundwork for actresses such as Teri Hatcher (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman), Erica Durance (Smallville), and Elizabeth Tulloch (Superman & Lois), who all played the famous Daily Planet reporter on television after Coates.
In Tom Weaver’s novel Science Fiction Stars and Horror Heroes: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Producers and Writers of the 1940s through 1960s, Coates revealed that she “really wanted to get out of Superman,” despite being offered five times her salary following the end of the first season, per People.
She also highlighted the stunt work she and her castmates did on the show, revealing that they “were nearly blown up, beaten up, exploded, [and] exploited.”
“I guess it was because we were young and dumb, but we put up with a lot of stuff,” she continued.
Coates returned to the DC universe while making an appearance as Lois Lane’s mother on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in 1994.
Press told People that her mother’s death was “very peaceful.”
“She gave a lot to the industry and her career passed through so many genres,” she added.
Coates’ other film credits of hers include I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood Arrow (1958), The Baby Maker (1970), and Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1989). Her final role was in 1996 in Hollywood: The Movie as Old Dora.
