Biography for
Phyllis Coates More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

15 January 1927, Wichita Falls, Texas, USA

Birth Name

Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell

Nickname

Gypsy

Height

5' 4" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, the future movie and TV actress 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 as TV's "Superman"), Coates began to divide her time between TV, B-movie assignments and serials at Republic.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Tom Weaver

Spouse

Dr. Bernard Press	(3 October 1962 - 1968) (divorced) 3 children
Robert Nelms	(23 January 1950 - 1 October 1953) (divorced) 1 child
Richard L. Bare	(1948 - 1949) (divorced)
Norman Tokar	(? - ?)

Trivia

Years after gaining fame as TV's first Lois Lane on "Adventures of Superman" (1952), she played Lois Lane's mother on an episode of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993).

She accepted the role in 1957's _"Incredible Petrified World, The" (1957)_ 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 convinced 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.

Is portrayed by Lorry Ayers in Hollywoodland (2006)

The first actress to appear as Lois Lane with actor George Reeves. Although Noel Neill played Lois Lane before Phyllis, it was not with Reeves but rather Kirk Allyn.

Personal Quotes

[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."

Where Are They Now

(May 2008) Appeared at Captain Celluloid's Movie and TV World Convention.

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