Joan Alexander (born Louise Abrass; April 16, 1915 – May 21, 2009)
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', May 22, 2009 was an American actress known for her role as Lois Lane on the radio serial '' The Adventures of Superman'' and the animated Fleischer Superman short films.

Early life and career

Alexander was born in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

, to a Lebanese-American family. Her father died when she was three, and when her mother remarried, the family moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York. She was sent to attend a convent school on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. She became a model and actress, and studied acting in Europe with Benno Schneider, a director in the Yiddish theater. Though Abrass later took the first name Joan after the actress

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, 190? was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was signed to a motion-picture cont ...

, the origin of the name Alexander is unknown, according to her family. An early, first marriage in 1944 to actor John Sylvester White, who became known as Principal Woodman on '' Welcome Back, Kotter'', was also unknown to Alexander's family until two years before Alexander's death.

Voice of Lois Lane

Alexander portrayed newspaper reporter Lois Lane in the

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

radio program '' The Adventures of Superman'' for more than 1,600 episodes. The series began in 1940, two years after Superman's debut in the modern-day

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

' ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/Comic anthology, magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as Detective Comics Inc., which later merged into National ...

'' #1 (June 1938), with Lane first appearing in the seventh episode. Though most sources indicate she was not the first actress cast, Alexander was cast early in the series' run and became the radio role's signature performer. Initially, the show, which ran through to 1951, was syndicated through the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...

's cornerstone station, WOR in New York, subsequently taken up by the Mutual network and finally to ABC. Alexander also was heard on '' Dimension X'' and '' Philo Vance'', '' Against the Storm'' and on '' Perry Mason'', in the first portrayal of supporting character Della Street, secretary to defense attorney Mason. She also played Althea on '' The Brighter Day'' on radio. Alexander additionally provided Lois Lane's voice in the 1940s

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures in 1942, the parent company and the distri ...

/Paramount Pictures animated ''

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

'' shorts, though she dropped the role after the ninth short, when

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was established as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contr ...

took over the series and moved production to New Jersey. She reprised the role of Lois Lane for one season of the 1966 Filmation

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

'' The New Adventures of Superman''.

Later life and career

Following her divorce from White, Alexander married

surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...

Robert Crowley. Author and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Jane Stanton Hitchcock (born as Jane Crowley) is their daughter. After that second marriage ended in divorce, Alexander in 1954 or 1955 married Arthur Stanton, chairman of the Orangeburg, New York-based World-Wide

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

, at the time the distributor of Volkswagen and

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

vehicles in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, and which helped introduce the

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1, is a small family car produced by the German company Volkswagen from 1938 to 2003. One of the most iconic cars in automotive history, the Beetle is noted for its distinctive shape. Its pr ...

to the U.S. Stanton, who died January 20, 1987, adopted Alexander and Crowley's daughter, Jane when she was 9 years old. The couple's other children were sons Adam (died 1993) and Timothy. The Stantons entertained at their

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

apartment on the Upper East Side and their home in East Hampton, New York; their daughter told ''

'' that author George Plimpton proposed to his future wife, Freddy Espy, at one party there, that

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

sometimes performed at the piano, and that comedy

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018) was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three ...

wrote a sketch for the daughter's 21st birthday. Alexander appeared on

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

as a regular panelist on the 1951–1955 ABC-TV

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

'' The Name's the Same''. She appeared on Broadway in ''Poor Richard'' by Jean Kerr in 1964. In April 2008, Alexander filed a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

against financial adviser Kenneth I. Starr, alleging the late Stanton had left Alexander a $70 million estate which, according to court paper, Starr used inappropriately and squandered.

Death

Alexander died on May 21, 2009, at the age of 94 from an intestinal blockage. She is survived by her son Timothy Stanton, his wife Agnes Stanton and grandsons Liam and Conrad Stanton as well as her daughter, Jane Stanton Hitchcock.

References

External links