An American actress, who came to prominence in the mid-1940s, having started out in the business as a chorus girl and toured with the USO. While Phyllis Coates landed several early roles in television and films, including several of the popular 10-minute Joe McDoakes comedy films, it was her performance as the first onscreen appearance of Daily Planet reporter Lois Lane in The Adventures of Superman (1952-1953) that really made an impact. Much later, she would return to the Superman universe as a guest on Lois & Clark (1994). Her other major television series were The Duke (1954) and This is Alice (1958), although she guest starred in numerous shows over her decades-long career. Among her 145 screen appearances, film credits included Invasion USA (1952), Jungle Drums of Africa (1952), Girls in Prison (1956), I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), The Baby Maker (1970) and Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1987).
Read Phyllis Coates' Telegraph obituary
