The American actress was 96 years old and died on October 11th at her home in California. This is confirmed by her daughter Laura Press to the New York Times.
Phyllis Coates was born in 1927, originally named Gypsie Stell - a name she also used early in her career.
She had several minor roles in various films and TV series in the late 40s and early 50s, but her big breakthrough came in 1951 when she played Lois Lane in the Superman film 'Superman and the Mole-Men'.
She acted alongside George Reeves as Superman after taking over the role from Noel Neill, who had played Lois Lane in the first two Superman movies.
Coates resumed the role the following year when Superman transitioned from film to TV with 'Adventures of Superman'.
She played Lois Lane in a total of 24 episodes before she was replaced in the second season by Noel Neill, who held the role for the series' remaining 78 episodes.
In 1994, she returned to the Superman universe when she played the role of Lois Lane's mother, Ellen, in one episode of 'Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman'. That same year, she also appeared in two episodes of the series 'Little House on the Prairie'.
According to IMDB, she boasted 145 roles over her lengthy career.
Privately, she was married twice and had three children.
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