Full list by date of death

Phyllis Coates

Actress

Born - 15 January 1927, Wichita Falls, Texas, USA
Died - 11 October 2023

Honey-blonde, long-faced, warmly sympathetic American actress, first a starlet, then 'B' movie and serial heroines, including Lois Lane in TV's Superman. Born Gypsie Ann Stell, she made the first of her 100-plus feature films in Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948), but became best-known as the long-suffering Alice McDoakes in the 'Joe MacDoakes' comedy series of shorts. Her busy film CV included Look for the Silver Lining (1949), My Foolish Heart (1949), My Blue Heaven (1950), Blues Busters (1950), Superman and the Mole Men (1951), The Longhorn (1951), Fargo (1952), The Maverick (1952), Marshal of Cedar Rock (1953), Topeka (1953), Gunfighters of the Northwest (1954), Panther Girl of the Kongo (1955), Girls in Prison (1956), Chicago Confidential (1957), Cattle Empire (1958), Blood Arrow (1959), Smile of a Dragon (1964), Thompson's Ghost (1966) and The Baby Maker (1970), then a gap filled by much TV work until Whisper Kill (1988), Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1989), Mrs Lambert Remembers Love (1991) and Hollywood: The Movie (1996), her last. Directors Richard Bare and Norman Tokar were the first and third of her four husbands, all divorced. She died from natural causes.