Phyllis Coates
Encyclopedia
Phyllis Coates is an American
film
and television
actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane
in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men
, and during the first season of the Adventures of Superman
television series.
, Coates went to Los Angeles
, intending to study at UCLA. However, a chance meeting with entertainer Ken Murray
resulted in her working in his vaudeville
show as a chorus girl. She later performed as one of Earl Carroll's
showgirls at his Earl Carroll Theatre
.
She signed a movie contract with Warner Brothers in 1948, and she co-starred with George O'Hanlon
in the studio's popular Joe McDoakes
short-subject comedies. She married the series' director, Richard L. Bare, and continued to appear in the films after their divorce.
In 1955, Coates played Madge, a neighbor of child psychologist Dr. Tom Wilson, played by Stephen Dunne, in the CBS sitcom Professional Father
. Joseph Kearns
(1907-1962), later the first Mr. Wilson on CBS's Dennis the Menace, played Coates's television husband, Fred. Barbara Billingsley
and Beverly Washburn
also starred in Professional Father.
in the first 26 episodes of Adventures of Superman
, where she was given equal billing with George Reeves
, even for episodes in which she did not appear. Her powerful "damsel in distress" scream was used to good effect in several episodes.
After shooting for the first season, the Superman producers suspended production until they found a national sponsor. When it came time to film more Superman episodes, Coates had already committed herself elsewhere. Noel Neill
, who had played Lois Lane in the 1948-1950 serials opposite Kirk Alyn
, succeeded her and became far more identified with the role.
.
Her Superman fame has obscured the fact that Coates was one of Hollywood's most dependable actresses of the period. She freelanced steadily, appearing in low-budget features, westerns, serials, and the "McDoakes" shorts. Her best-remembered films of the 1950s are Blues Busters with The Bowery Boys
(in which she has a musical number), Panther Girl of the Kongo
, a jungle serial in which she starred, and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein
.
Her other television appearances included The Cisco Kid
, The Adventures of Kit Carson
(twice as June Sanders), It's a Great Life
, Frontier
, The Abbott and Costello Show
, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
(as Penny in the 1960 episode "The Trench Coat", along with David Niven
and Lyle Talbot
), Leave It to Beaver
, Rawhide
(Season 1/20 as Nora Sage), General Electric Theater
, The Lone Ranger
and The Patty Duke Show
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
actress. She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane
Lois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men
Superman and the Mole Men
Superman and the Mole Men is a 1951 superhero film starring George Reeves as Superman and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane. It is the first theatrical feature film based on the DC Comics character Superman, although two live-action Superman films had already been shown in cinemas, they appeared in a...
, and during the first season of the Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
television series.
Early life and career
After graduating from high school in Wichita Falls, TexasWichita Falls, Texas
Wichita Falls is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States, United States. Wichita Falls is the principal city of the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay and Wichita counties. According to the U.S. Census estimate of 2010,...
, Coates went to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, intending to study at UCLA. However, a chance meeting with entertainer Ken Murray
Ken Murray (entertainer)
Ken Murray was an American entertainer and author.-Vaudeville:Murray was born Kenneth Doncourt in New York City to a family of vaudeville performers. According to Murray's autobiography , he changed his name because he did not want to ride the coattails of his father's success; he wanted to make a...
resulted in her working in his vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
show as a chorus girl. She later performed as one of Earl Carroll's
Earl Carroll
Earl Carroll was an American theatrical producer, director, songwriter and composer born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Career:...
showgirls at his Earl Carroll Theatre
Earl Carroll Theatre
Earl Carroll Theatre was the name of two important theaters owned by Broadway impresario and showman Earl Carroll. One was located on Broadway in New York City and the other on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, California.-Broadway:...
.
She signed a movie contract with Warner Brothers in 1948, and she co-starred with George O'Hanlon
George O'Hanlon
George O'Hanlon was an American screen actor, comedian, and voice actor.-Early life and career:George O'Hanlon was born in Brooklyn, New York City on November 23, 1912....
in the studio's popular Joe McDoakes
Joe McDoakes
Joe McDoakes is the protagonist of a series of 63 black and white live action comedy one reel short subjects released between 1942 and 1956. The Joe McDoakes shorts are also known as the Behind the Eight Ball series or the So You Want... series...
short-subject comedies. She married the series' director, Richard L. Bare, and continued to appear in the films after their divorce.
In 1955, Coates played Madge, a neighbor of child psychologist Dr. Tom Wilson, played by Stephen Dunne, in the CBS sitcom Professional Father
Professional Father
Professional Father is a 1955 CBS situation comedy television series starring Stephen Dunne as Dr. Tom Wilson, a child psychologist successful with his patients but less than effective with his own family...
. Joseph Kearns
Joseph Kearns
Joseph Sherrard Kearns was an American actor, who is best remembered for his role as George Wilson in the CBS television series Dennis the Menace from 1959 until his death in 1962.-Biography:...
(1907-1962), later the first Mr. Wilson on CBS's Dennis the Menace, played Coates's television husband, Fred. Barbara Billingsley
Barbara Billingsley
Barbara Billingsley was an American film, television, voice and stage actress. She gained prominence in the 1950s movie The Careless Years, acting opposite Natalie Trundy, followed by her best–known role, that of June Cleaver on the television series Leave It to Beaver and its sequel Still...
and Beverly Washburn
Beverly Washburn
Beverly Washburn is an American actress who appeared as a young girl in NBC's The Loretta Young Show and as an older teenager in Loretta Young's 1962-1963 CBS family drama, The New Loretta Young Show...
also starred in Professional Father.
Lois Lane
Coates played a strong-willed Lois LaneLois Lane
Lois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
in the first 26 episodes of Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
, where she was given equal billing with George Reeves
George Reeves
George Reeves was an American actor best known for his role as Superman in the 1950s television program Adventures of Superman....
, even for episodes in which she did not appear. Her powerful "damsel in distress" scream was used to good effect in several episodes.
After shooting for the first season, the Superman producers suspended production until they found a national sponsor. When it came time to film more Superman episodes, Coates had already committed herself elsewhere. Noel Neill
Noel Neill
Noel Neill is an American actress in motion pictures and television. She is best known as her portrayal of Lois Lane in the film serials Superman and Atom Man vs...
, who had played Lois Lane in the 1948-1950 serials opposite Kirk Alyn
Kirk Alyn
-External links:...
, succeeded her and became far more identified with the role.
Later years
Coates generally tried to distance herself from the Superman series, fearing it might limit her roles. She did make a guest appearance as Lois Lane's mother in the first season finale of the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of SupermanLois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman was a live-action American television series based on the Superman comic books...
.
Her Superman fame has obscured the fact that Coates was one of Hollywood's most dependable actresses of the period. She freelanced steadily, appearing in low-budget features, westerns, serials, and the "McDoakes" shorts. Her best-remembered films of the 1950s are Blues Busters with The Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys were fictional New York City characters who were the subject of feature films released by Monogram Pictures from 1946 through 1958....
(in which she has a musical number), Panther Girl of the Kongo
Panther Girl of the Kongo
Panther Girl of the Kongo is a Republic movie serial. It used a lot of stock footage from the 1941 Republic serial "Jungle Girl". This was the penultimate serial produced by Republic...
, a jungle serial in which she starred, and I Was a Teenage Frankenstein
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein is a film starring Whit Bissell, Phyllis Coates and Gary Conway released by American International Pictures in November 1957. It is the follow-up to AIP's box-office hit I Was a Teenage Werewolf released less than five months earlier...
.
Her other television appearances included The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
, The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson
The Adventures of Kit Carson is an American Western series that aired in syndication from August 1951 to November 1955, originally sponsored by Coca-Cola. It stars Bill Williams in the title role as frontier scout Christopher "Kit" Carson...
(twice as June Sanders), It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life
It's a Great Life is an American situation comedy which aired on NBC from 1954 to 1956...
, Frontier
Frontier (1955 TV series)
This program should not be confused with Frontiers , the British program Frontier , Frontier Justice , Frontier Circus, or Frontier Doctor....
, The Abbott and Costello Show
The Abbott and Costello Show
The Abbott and Costello Show is an American television sitcom starring the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello that premiered in syndication in the fall of 1952 and ran until May 1954....
, The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
The DuPont Show with June Allyson is an American anthology drama series which aired on CBS from September 21, 1959 to April 3, 1961 with rebroadcasts continuing until June 12, 1961...
(as Penny in the 1960 episode "The Trench Coat", along with David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
and Lyle Talbot
Lyle Talbot
Lyle Talbot , born Lisle Henderson, was an American actor on stage and screen, best known for his long career in movies from 1931 to 1960 and for his frequent appearances on TV in the 1950s and '60s, including his decade-long role as Joe Randolph on television's The Adventures of Ozzie and...
), Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
(Season 1/20 as Nora Sage), General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...
, The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
and The Patty Duke Show
The Patty Duke Show
The Patty Duke Show is an American sitcom which ran on ABC from September 18, 1963, until May 4, 1966, with reruns airing through August 31, 1966. The show was created as a vehicle for rising star Patty Duke...
.