Noel Neill, first actress to play Lois Lane, passes away

Veteran actress Noel Niell, best known for playing Lois Lane on the Adventures of Superman television series, has died at the age of 95.

Niell’s manager and biographer Larry Ward shared a statement on Facebook, saying that she “maintained that bright, perky and engaging personality up until her death.”

The actress first played Lois Lane in 1948’sSuperman, reprising the role in 1950’s Atom Man vs Superman and in the TV series The Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves.

She returned several times to appear in Superman films — playing Lois Lane’s mother in the 1978 Christopher Reeve “Superman,” appearing in the “Superboy” series and in the Brandon Routh—starrer 2006 “Superman Returns.”

Born in Minneapolis, Niell wanted to become a real journalist like her newspaper editor father before playing one on-screen. She wrote for Women’s Wear Daily before moving into acting and singing.

Soon after moving to Los Angeles, she was hired by Bing Crosby to sing at the racetrack in Del Mar, California and then signed a contract with Paramount. She went on to appear in films including Mad Youthand Are These Our Parents and then appeared in Music Man and in a series of film and TV Westerns with directors including Vincent Minnelli, Cecil B DeMille and Hal Roach.

The actress had a series of small film roles, many of them uncredited, in the 1940s.

Neill was honoured with a Golden Boot award for her contributions to Westerns. A statue of her as Lois Lane was dedicated in Metropolis in 2010.