Phyllis Coates

Overview

Born
January 15, 1927 · Wichita Falls, Texas, USA
Died
October 11, 2023 · Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (natural causes)
Birth name
Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell
Nickname
- Gypsie
Height
5′ 4″ (1.63 m)

Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, Phyllis Coates moved to Hollywood as a teenager with intentions of enrolling at UCLA. A chance encounter with Ken Murray in a Hollywood & Vine restaurant landed her in the comedian's vaudeville show. She started out as a chorus girl and worked her way up to doing skits before moving on to work for veteran showman Earl Carroll and later touring with the USO. Coates got some of her first motion picture experience in comedy short subjects at Warner Brothers and then graduated to roles in early '50s films. After a one-season stint with the Man of Steel (George Reeves on Adventures of Superman (1952)), she began to divide her time among TV, B-movie assignments and serials at Republic.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>

The first actress to appear as Lois Lane with George Reeves. Although Noel Neill played Lois Lane before Phyllis, it was not with Reeves but rather Kirk Alyn.
Phyllis Coates played Lois Lane in all 26 episodes of the first season of Adventures of Superman (1952), until she passed away on October 11, 2023. She had been the last surviving member since July 3, 2016 with the passing of Noel Neill (the second Lois Lane starting in the second season).
Was accidentally punched during filming of Night of Terror (1952), knocking her unconscious. The actor who punched her apologized profusely, but the punch was left in the episode, as there was no time to re-shoot the scene.
She accepted the role in 1957's The Incredible Petrified World (1959) as a favor to its director, Jerry Warren, who was a former boyfriend. The actress originally cast in the lead couldn't do it and Warren couldn't find anyone else in time. He persuaded Coates to do it by telling her that the film would not be shown in California. However, after it was completed, she found out that Warren did indeed release the film in California, and she was told by at least one studio executive at Columbia that the film was so inferior and shoddy that the studio would not be hiring her again. On top of that, Warren never paid her.
Along with Jack Larson and Jack Kruschen, she is one of only three actors to appear in both Adventures of Superman (1952) and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993).

[Comparing the wardrobe she wore playing Lois Lane in Adventures of Superman (1952) with Teri Hatcher's in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993)] I saw Teri in this beautiful dress with her boobs pushed up and I thought, "That's Lois Lane?!?!" I had a suit up to my collarbone. I felt like a horse with a bit in my mouth.
[on how she came to be hired as "Lois Lane" on "Adventures of Superman" (1952)] They [producer Robert Maxwell (II) and director Thomas Carr (I)] auditioned a lot of people. I read for it, then was called back a second time. They felt that I had the quality--it was that simple.