Noel Neill dead: Original Lois Lane actress, ‘Superman’ TV star was 95

Jack Larson, Noel Neill

Actors Jack Larson, left, and Noel Neill, who originated the roles of Jimmy Olson and Lois Lane in the 1950s “Superman” television series, pose at Patrick’s Roadhouse in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles Wednesday, June 21, 2006.

(The Associated Press)

The original Lois Lane is dead, her official biographer announced Monday.

Noel Neill, best known for her role as the Daily Planet reporter on TV’s “The Adventures of Superman” with George Reeves, died Sunday after a long illness. She was 95, Larry Ward told THR.

Before the television series, Neill was the first actress to play Clark Kent’s leading lady on screen in a 15-chapter movie serial for Columbia Pictures in 1948. She and Kirk Alyn, who played DC Comics’ Man of Steel, reprised their roles in a 1950 serial called “Atom Man vs. Superman.”

According to MassLive, Neill also made cameos in 1978’s “Superman” (as Lane’s mother) with Christopher Reeve, ’90s TV series “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” and Brandon Routh’s 2006 movie “Superman Returns” (as Lex Luthor’s wife Gertrude Vanderworth). She ultimately appeared in nearly 100 films and TV shows, including uncredited parts in “An American in Paris” and “The Greatest Show on Earth,” but was always best known for her ties to the Superman franchise.

The New York Daily News reports the town of Metropolis, Illinois, named Neill the First Lady of Metropolis and erected a statue in her honor.

“She was kind, selfless, hardworking, funny with a quick wit, and assertive – all the same qualities that embodied the character of Lois Lane,” Ward said in a statement. “Noel truly was Lois Lane, and for many of us, she was the first working woman seen on television. Few of her fans actually knew her real name, almost always simply calling her ‘Lois’ to which she would unfailing answer with a bright smile and a kind word.”