"Noel Neill Month"

Today is November 1. November should be proclaimed "Noel Neill Month" as the great lady from the Adventures of Superman will celebrate her 89th birthday on November 25.

Noel was born November 25, 1920 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her father was a newspaper editor in Minneapolis.

She started in show business at a young age as a singer and dancer. She fell in love with the beach while on a visit to Southern California.

She performed at the Turf Club in Del Mar, California and on Hollywoood's Sunset Strip including Ciro's, the Mocambo and the Trocadero night clubs.

She appeared in many features in the 1940s and first became Lois Lane in the 1948 Columbia serial, Superman, with Kirk Alyn in the title role. She repeated her Lois Lane role in Atom Man vs. Superman (1950).

The advent of television did not leave Noel behind, as she made many television appearances along with her movie work in the early 1950s.

Noel re-claimed her Lois Lane role in 1953 when the Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, began filming its second season. She replaced the first season's Lois Lane, Phyllis Coates, and hasn't looked back since.



In the 1970s, Noel discovered just how popular she was with the baby-boomer generation when she made an appearance at a university to discuss her career as Lois Lane. She was met with a standing-room-only crowd. She made more college appearances in the 1970s and had a cameo role in Christopher Reeve's Superman (1978).

From the 1980s onward, Noel has been busier than ever. She took on the duties of handling Tom Selleck's fan correspondence and has made appearances on television talk shows (generally with co-star Jack Larson) and fan conventions.

Her appearance schedule would tax the energies of someone half her age, but Noel Neill still goes out and makes appearances at conventions around the country. It appears that she was blessed with good genes and benefited from years of beach volleyball.

Above, Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Noel Neill.

In 2001, she appeared at a 50th anniversary reunion (above and below) of Superman participants at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors at a ceremony declaring "Superman Week."





Noel was the subject of a biography (below) by Larry Thomas Ward, Truth, Justice, & The American Way - The Life & Times Of Noel Neill, The Original Lois Lane (Canon City, Colorado: Nicholas Lawrence Books, 2003).



In November 2005, a large gathering of fans and Noel's show business colleagues took place in Studio City, California to celebrate her 85th birthday.

Above, Jack Larson and Noel Neill at Noel's 85th birthday luncheon.

Noel proved that she hadn't lost has her acting chops when she made her appearance as Gertrude Vanderworth in Superman Returns (2006).

Like the Energizer Bunny, Noel Neill keeps going and going. Today, she still makes appearances at fan conventions and collector shows.

Happy Birthday, Noel!