Phyllis Coates

Acting

Phyllis Coates

Born 1927-01-15 · Wichita Falls, Texas, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Phyllis Coates (born Gypsie Ann Evarts Stell; January 15, 1927) was an American actress best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole-Men and in the first season of the television series Adventures of Superman. Coates signed a movie contract with Warner Bros. extending from 1948 to 1956. She co-starred with George O'Hanlon as the title character's wife in the studio's Joe McDoakes short-subject comedies. She acted in film serials including Jungle Drums of Africa (1953), Gunfighters of the Northwest (1953), and Panther Girl of the Kongo (1955). Her film career also included roles in Girls in Prison (1956), I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957), Blood Arrow (1958), Cattle Empire (1958), The Incredible Petrified World (1959), The Baby Maker (1970) and Goodnight, Sweet Marilyn (1989). Coates was one of Hollywood's most consistently employed actresses of the 1950s and '60s. She freelanced steadily, appearing in numerous low-budget features, many of them Westerns, as well as serials and a steady stream of TV appearances, both as a regular in several series and as a guest cast member in others. All this was in addition to the "McDoakes" shorts, in which she continued to appear until Warner Bros. discontinued the series in 1956.

Acting credits

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7.3

Joe McDoakes' wife Alice wants to return to work to add income to the household. Joe would rather she stay at home to tend to domestic duties. When Alice threatens to return to her old job, a reluctant Joe agrees to her request to get her a job at his office. How will this work out?

So Your Wife Wants to Work

1956

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8.0

illustrates how directors pushed boundaries and altered the art of filmmaking during the turbulent, swinging 1960s. Narrated by Woody Harrelson, "Reel Radicals" features clips from such seminal films as Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967); Mike Nichols' "The Graduate" (1967); Dennis Hopper's "Easy Rider" (1969); John Frankenheimer's "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962); Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" (1964) and "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968); John Schlesinger's "Midnight Cowboy" (1969); Richard Brooks' "Elmer Gantry" (1960) and "In Cold Blood" (1967); and Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) and "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968). Frankenheimer, Jewison, Hopper, Schlesinger, Penn, Buck Henry, Paul Mazursky, Roger Corman and Arthur Hiller are among the filmmakers who discuss the decade.

Reel Radicals: The Sixties Revolution in Film

2002

Superman and the Mole Men poster
5.3

Reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in the small town of Silsby to witness the drilling of the world's deepest oil well. The drill, however, has penetrated the underground home of a race of small, furry people who then come to the surface at night to look around. The fact that they glow in the dark scares the townfolk, who form a mob, led by the vicious Luke Benson, intent on killing the strange people. Only Superman has a chance to prevent this tragedy.

Superman and the Mole Men

1951

My Blue Heaven poster
7.5

Radio star Kitty Moran, long married to partner Jack, finds she's pregnant, but miscarries. For a change, the couple turn their act into a series on early TV and try to adopt a baby. Finally they acquiring a girl in a somewhat back alley manner.

My Blue Heaven

1950

I Was a Teenage Frankenstein poster
5.6

Professor Frankenstein creates a teenager from an accident victim, who gets angry when he learns he is going to be taken apart.

I Was a Teenage Frankenstein

1957

Smart Girls Don't Talk poster
5.7

A society woman gets involved with a gangster only to find he has hidden plans.

Smart Girls Don't Talk

1948

The Incredible Petrified World poster
3.5

Four adventurers descend to the bottom of the sea. When their surface tether snaps, they find themselves marooned in a network of underwater caverns.

The Incredible Petrified World

1959

Scorching Fury poster
10.0

Three masked bandits responsible for a wave of holdups and bank robberies stick up a stagecoach on its way to Boone City.

Scorching Fury

1952

Blood Arrow poster
8.0

Phyllis Coates, TV's erstwhile Lois Lane, essays one of her largest film roles in Blood Arrow. Coates is cast as a devout Mormon girl whose mission is to transport smallpox vaccine to her friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, this requires her to journey through hostile Indian territory. Appointing themselves as the girl's unofficial protectors are Indian scout Scott Brady, trapper Don Haggerty and (reluctantly) gambler Paul Richards.

Blood Arrow

1958

Flat Top poster
4.6

A rock hard commander trains Navy Carrier Pilots during the Second World War

Flat Top

1952

The Screen Director poster
7.0

A behind-the-scenes look at all the responsibilities (and headaches) a director assumes when making a motion picture.

The Screen Director

1951

Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love poster
5.1

Longtime singles Lillian Lambert and Clifford Pepperman enjoy a romance late in their lives.

Mrs. Lambert Remembers Love

1991

Perils of the Jungle poster
4.5

On an African safari with his friend Grant, Clyde Beatty plans to buy some black-maned Numbian lions from Jo Carter but her animals are wiped out by a fire. Despite interference by rival dealer Gorman, who hopes to ruin Jo, Beatty saves her business by helping her to capture an adult gorilla. (2nd story) When Grant is bitten by a tsetse fly and falls ill, Beatty heads for the nearest hospital through the territory of the dangerous Matabeles tribe. They are captured and condemned to death by Grubbs, a white man living with the tribe and stealing their gold. Using the Matabele Boy King as a shield, Beatty and Grant make an escape and Grubbs is forced to accompany them, leaving his loot behind.

Perils of the Jungle

1953

Kiss Shot poster
5.8

A struggling, single mom with a precocious young daughter also has an unpaid mortgage. She falls back on her pool-playing skills to pay off her debts. But just as she plays her way into a big money tournament, a globe-trotting ladies' man threatens to disrupt her life with her daughter and her peace of mind. Suddenly, everything's riding on a single shot.

Kiss Shot

1989

Oklahoma Justice poster
9.0

Johnny Mack Brown goes up against a lady bank robber in this average Mack Brown series late-entry from Monogram. The lady, played by Barbara Allen, is of course called "Ma." In order to get the goods on "Ma" and her "brood," Mack Brown must masquerade as a lone bandit.

Oklahoma Justice

1951

Invasion, U.S.A. poster
3.4

A group of American witness the deadly invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union.

Invasion, U.S.A.

1952

Hollywood: The Movie poster
4.6

An ambitious filmmaker sets out to make an avant-garde film but soon learns the only way he can secure financing is if he shows Jessica Hahn's breasts. Also, two old women are magically transformed into young starlets.

Hollywood: The Movie

1996

Blues Busters poster
6.7

The Bowery Boys open a nightclub after Sach has his tonsils out and wakes up with a singing voice.

Blues Busters

1950

Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story poster
7.0

The story of the short film from the beginning of the movies in the 1890s, when all movies were shorts, through the 1950s when short subjects virtually disappeared from theaters.

Added Attractions: The Hollywood Shorts Story

2002

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6.3

Alice neglects her housework because she is enthralled with the long-haired piano player, Gregor Flatorsharpsky, next door. Joe buys a piano, and the accompanying free lessons, and sets out to impress Alice. Alice is vastly unimpressed.

So You Want to Play the Piano

1956

Once to Every Woman poster
NR

At a particularly vulnerable time in her life, Carol is wooed by charming David. They fall in love, but Carol then learns that David is married. He says that he will get divorced for her, but Carol is visited by David's wife.

Once to Every Woman

1956

Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists! poster
4.7

A comprehensive story of Hollywood's horror and science fiction films of the 1950s, told by the people who made them.

Hollywood in the Atomic Age: Monsters! Martians! Mad Scientists!

2021

The Baby Maker poster
6.2

Tish Gray had a baby and gave it up for adoption. She is contacted by a second childless couple who want her to have the husband's baby because of the wife's inability to have children. She accepts but finds that knowing the parents, and developing a relationship with them for the entire pregnancy complicates the simple arrangement.

The Baby Maker

1970

Girls in Prison poster
4.5

An inmate is persuaded to take part in a prison break by cellmates anxious to cash in on loot they believe she has hidden.

Girls in Prison

1956