Lois Lane Actresses: Stars Who've Played Superman's Girlfriend

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Joan Alexander

Like Bud Collyer, who played her Superman, radio actress Joan Alexander played Lois Lane longer than anyone else has, providing her voice to the character first for The Adventures of Superman Radio Show, from 1940-51. From there, she voiced her in 17 Max Fleischer theatrical animated shorts between 1941 and 1943, and the 1966 Saturday morning series The New Adventures of Superman.

It should be noted that on the radio show, Joan had been preceded as Lois by Rolly Bester and Helen Choate, but she was there for the majority of the series' run.

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Noel Neill

Noel Neill, of course, is the Lois Lane of record for anyone who grew up with the George Reeves TV series Adventures of Superman, which aired in syndication from 1952-1958, though Noel joined the show in its second season, replacing Phyllis Coates. Before that, however, she played Lois in the movie serials (also known as "chapter plays") Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), with Kirk Alyn cast as her Man of Steel.

In an interview with the Superman Homepage Noel said of her character on the series, "You have to understand that all the scripts were written by the writers working for DC Comics in New York. They wrote primarily comic books, and it was on the strength of their characterization of Lois Lane that made her popular. So who was I to argue that Lois didn't have great lines, or was always tied to a chair? You don't mess with success, and they were successful… Working on the show was one of the greatest — and also, one of the most exhausting — experiences of my life."

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Phyllis Coates

Phyllis first played Lois on the big screen in the 51-minute 1951 feature film Superman and the Mole Men, which was designed as a pilot for the Adventures of Superman. She reprised the role in the first season of that show, but was let go partially over money and partially over the perception that she was kind of mean to Clark Kent. Truth be told, she probably gave one of the most solid portrayals of Lois Lane out there.

In an interview with New.com, she commented, "In all honesty, it was I who planned to leave after the first season to sign on to do a pilot episode for another show, which never made it to the air."

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Patricia Marand

In 1966, the Man of Steel flew to the Broadway stage for a brief time in the musical It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman, which pit Bob Holiday's Superman against Michael O'Sullivan's Abner Sedgwick. The latter is a multi Nobel Prize-losing scientist who wants revenge by destroying America's hero psychologically. As if that's not enough, Daily Planet columnist Max Mencken (Jack Cassidy) resents Lois Lane's attraction to Superman and ends up teaming up with Sedgwick. Patricia, who was best known for her roles in musical theater, was actually nominated for a Tony Award her role portrayal of Lois in the show.

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Lesley Ann Warren

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman came to television in 1975 as part of ABC's late night programming. In short, it was not well received. David Wilson played Superman, while Lesley Ann Warren was Lois Lane. A couple of years later, Lesley would actually screen test for the part of Lois in 1978's Superman: The Movie.

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Margot Kidder

The late Margot Kidder is certainly the most recognized of the actresses who have played Lois Lane, largely due to the fact that the film that started it all for her in the part, Superman: The Movie, was an instant classic and is so revered 40 years later. Margot reprised the role in 1981's Superman II, 1983's Superman III, and 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. The romance between Superman and Lois Lane was probably never as epic as it was in these films, although, amusingly enough, Margot never really saw it that way, saying of Christopher Reeve to Entertainment Tonight, "We didn't have sexual chemistry. We had serious brother/sister chemistry, and you don't want to be kissing your brother. I thought of him so much as a kid brother, that I remember pretending that he was Harrison Ford."

She added when the two met for her screen test, "I walked in and I went, 'That's not Superman!' He was skinny, his trousers were parked too short, and he had a certain dorky air about him and slouch." Apparently he got into proper shape before the cameras rolled.

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Mary McDonald Lewis

From the 1970s through the 1980s, one of the staples of Saturday Morning Television was ABC's various versions of Super Friends, which, in itself, was more or less the concept of the Justice League of America geared for little kids. One of those takes was 1984's The Legendary Super Powers Show, which saw Mary McDonald Lewis in the part of Lois. Much of her subsequent career has been spent as a dialect coach on a variety of animated series.

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Teri Hatcher

Yes we know her now as Susan Mayer from Desperate Housewives, but Teri Hatcher first really caught people's attention with her turn as Lois Lane in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, a decidedly more romantic take on the the relationship between, of all things, Lois and Clark Kent, who was played by Dean Cain. The show ran from 1993-97, and was actually the true introduction of the characters for a whole generation. Teri re-entered the Superman mythos when she made a cameo on Smallville as the mother of Erica Durance's Lois Lane. In an interview with TV Guide at the time she said, "It's a very small cameo that I did as a gesture of respect to honor all the devoted Superman saga fans who've supported me then as Lois and support me now as Susan. It's been quite special to be involved in two entirely different but significant television worlds… Getting to step back into that world and 'wig' just made me feel grateful for all the opportunities I've had over the years."

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Dana Delaney

When, you may be wondering, did Dana Delaney played Lois Lane? It was on the 1996-debuting Superman: The Animated Series, and she was wonderful in the part. In fact, she was so wonderful that she reprised the role in the animated Justice League (2001), Justice League Unlimited (2004), the Superman: Shadow of Apokolips video game (2003), a guest appearance on The Batman (2004), and the animated films Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006), and Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox (2013). Dana's live-action series include China Beach, Pasadena, Presidio Med, Kidnapped, Desperate Housewives, Body of Proof, and Hand of God. Needless to say, she's kept busy over the years.

In an interview with Comicsalliance.com she said of her introduction to the show's take on the character, "I believe they might have shown me some storyboards first, but it was actually the script itself [that mattered more]. As an actor, you just take it from the words, and it was written in that 'rat-a-tat' style of the ‘40s film dialogue. I immediately thought of Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday, which makes sense, because she was a reporter in that film. Rosalind Russell, especially in that movie, always had a quick delivery; kind of snappy, and I just decided I was going to model Lois after Rosalind Russell in that movie."

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Erica Durance

This may have been one of the most unexpected turns for the Lois Lane character ever. Smallville had been launched as a series focusing on Clark Kent's gradual evolution from teenager to his destiny as Superman, but locked pretty firmly on his time in Smallville. However, the longer the show went on, the more the producers felt a need to dip further and further into the Man of Steel's mythology, resulting in the addition of actress Erica Durance as Lois in Season 4. Originally a supporting part, the character continually rose in prominence and eventually romance blossomed between her and Tom Welling's Clark Kent. And in the final episode, when he reveals himself to the world as Superman, Lois is right there with him. While Erica may not have garnered the attention that Margot Kidder did in the role, her portrayal is one of the best ever.

Erica was asked by Collider.com what, if anything, she would want to change about Lois, to which she responded, "I don’t feel that I want to change anything about her. I think she just happened the way she was supposed to. I can’t go back and change it. But, I love that she’s flawed. I love that she’s human. You need that juxtaposed to the perfection of Superman. I think that’s part of why she’s written the way she’s written, and why she’s there. She just has this absolute loyalty for what is good and right and just, and it parallels what Superman is and what he embodies. I think that that’s why it works so well."

You know what's really unsettling? These days Erica is playing the Kryptonian mother of Melissa Benoist's Supergirl. How is that even possible?

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Kate Bosworth

There was a lot of anticipation for 2006's Superman Returns, which introduced Brandon Routh as the Man of Steel, who followed very much in the vein of Christopher Reeve. Kate Bosworth played Lois in a storyline that was more or less a sequel to Superman: The Movie and Superman II, but the problem is that she looked and was so young that it was impossible to believe her as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

Of Lois, Kate explains in a press conference interview, "She's definitely the type of woman that thinks she doesn't need to be saved ever. She'll just take care of things on her own. She's very independent, very driven, and very strong-willed, which can be slightly frustrating for the men in her life. But it was a very fun character to play. As a woman, to play somebody that is so independent was a real pleasure."

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Anne Heche

Back in 2007, DC Comics and Warner Bros launched a series of made-for-DVD movies that are still going strong to this day. Things kicked off with Superman: Doomsday, adapting one of the most famous comic book stories ever in which Superman dies battling a creature from Krypton, though he's eventually resurrected. Adam Baldwin voiced Superman, while actress Anne Heche (as in Ellen DeGeneres' ex) voiced a grief-stricken Lois.

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Sirena Irwin

She might be best known as Lucy Ricardo in the touring production of I Love Lucy: Live on Stage, but animation fans know her from a wide variety of animated series. One of her guest appearances was as Lois Lane in an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. That show, which really lightens up the image of Batman and is something of a throwback to the Adam West Batman series of the 1960s, saw the not-so-Dark Knight teaming up with different DC characters, with Superman appearing in Sirena's episode as well.

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Kyra Sedgwick

Kyra, best known as Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson on the long-running TNT series The Closer, voiced Lois in the 2008 animated film Justice League: The New Frontier, which was set in the early 1960s and essentially shows the Justice League coming together for the first time. More recently, the actress has been in 10 episodes each of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Ten Days in the Valley.

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Christina Hendricks

Christina definitely captured the imagination last TV season with her starring turn as Beth Boland in NBC's Good Girls (and before that with the role of Joan Harris in the acclaimed Mad Men). Well, in 2011 she voiced Lois in the animated film All-Star Superman, in which, due to a trap from Lex Luthor, Superman is slowly dying and it tracks his final days of life, as well as his time with Lois Lane. It's actually as moving as it sounds like it would be.

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Grey Delisle

Grey is pretty unique among the actresses who have voiced Lois Lane, largely because she is not only a voiceover artist, but a singer/songwriter with seven albums to her credit. She first voiced Lois for the 2012 animated film Justice League: Doom, though it's very much a small, supporting role. She would be back as the character in the films DC Super Heroes: Batman Be-Leaguered (2014), DC Super Hero Girls (2015), Lego DC Super Hero Girls: Brain Drain (2017), and Lego DC Super Heroes: The Flash (2018).

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Amy Adams

Anyone remember just how adorable Amy Adams was in the film that really put her on the map, Enchanted? It was a wonderful introduction to an actress who would excel in so many dramatic roles, and really mold the character of Lois Lane into a modern woman — though one who, admittedly, does tend to get herself in trouble and often requires rescuing from her Superman, Henry Cavill. She first played Lois in Man of Steel (2013), followed by Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Justice League (2017). No word on whether she'll get the chance to reprise it again.

In a video interview provided by the studio for Man of Steel, Amy explained about Lois, "I think it's very interesting that it actually takes this person from another world to make her more human. His humanity actually brings about a change in her and probably gives her a stronger sense of humanity. I would think as the story continues, she becomes a stronger and more well-rounded human being. She's pretty focused when we find her and is pretty dead set on what she believes to be the most important thing, which is telling the truth. But she comes to really respect humanity and identify more with humanity by her experiences with Clark."

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Pauley Perrette

Although she's appeared in a wide number of films and TV shows, it was her role as Abby Sciuto on NCIS that Pauley is the most known for. Leaving the show at the end of last season, it will be interesting to see where she goes from there. But between those 352 episodes of NCIS, she brought Lois to vocal life in the 2012 film Superman vs. The Elite, which really stands as a testament to that character's place in the modern world (which, it should be said, he does a nice job of establishing — and it's not far from what it's always been).

"The one piece of advice I was given right before I came in to read for Lois Lane was to not go back and watch anyone else's performance of it," she explains. "I was told by one of my friends, who's a comic book fanatic, that my voice and personality were perfect for Lois Lane, and that I shouldn't watch anything. Just go in there and deliver. I think I have a little bit of Lois Lane's spunk and determination."

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Stana Katic

For 171 episodes, Stana played Detective (eventually Captain) Kate Beckett on the comedy drama Castle, playing up against Nathan Fillion's mystery writer Richard Castle, who teams up with her to solve crimes. In 2013, she voiced Lois in one of the strongest of the made-for-DVD animated films, Superman Unbound. While the main story had Superman (Matt Bomer) and Supergirl go up against the cybernetic being Brainiac, the B story — and significant as a whole — was the love story between Superman/Clark and Lois, culminating in him proposing to her as Clark Kent.

"Lois Lane," Stana notes, "is a modern, independent, working woman, but she can be sexual and spicy and spunky at the same time. The history of the character plays into the performance, and then I just have to fill in the blanks in between. You know, everything has to be communicated through your voice, so you commit more in your voice and you might move your body around differently in order to get the right sound to come out. In the recording booth, you look a little bit like a jumping monkey, I guess. Or I do at least."

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Juliet Landau

Juliet is a multi-faceted performer, being an actress, producer, director and ballerina, though her greatest impression was made as the vampire Drusilla on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff, Angel. She voiced Lois in 2015's Justice League: Throne of Atlantis, though it was a small role.

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Paget Brewster

Justice League: Gods and Monsters and the webseries of the same name, both launching in 2015, told an alternate history in which the characters of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are very different from the ones we're used to. In this world, Lois Lane is still a reporter and has a relationship with Superman, but it's much more antagonistic than usual. Voicing her is Paget Brewster, who is currently a part of the ensemble cast of Criminal Minds as Emily Prentiss.

Paget explains, "This version of Lois Lane is not different in the way that Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are different. Their origin stories are basically altered in this film, so it's an alternate reality. The difference for her is her perception of our heroes is different. She does not like Superman. They are not romantically involved. In fact, she thinks he's full of crap and evil."

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