Character Actor Charles Lane Dies At 102
Posted July 10, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
He was one of those guys whose name makes you say “who?” but whose face is instantly recognizable. Charles Lane, a veteran character actor whose resume reads like a history of TV sitcoms, has died. The actor made a living for decades playing the irascible, glasses-wearing old man in classic films and shows ranging from “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Calling Northside 777” to “Petticoat Junction” and “Green Acres”. While he was never really a regular on any program, he was always the first choice to play roles like the crotchety banker or the next door neighbour irritated by kids.
Lane is especially remembered from the celebrated I Love Lucy episode where Ricky Ricardo is waiting for the birth of his son in a hospital waiting room. The actor played an expectant father who was calm, while his counterpart, essayed by Desi Arnaz, was in a panic. “This old guy was expecting his 10th child or something and this nervous young man was expecting his first,” Lane recalled in 2005. “It was a marvellous scene and Desi was a fine actor.” The same can be said of Lane.
Among the other shows you’ve seen him in:
- L.A. Law,
- St. Elsewhere
- Mork and Mindy
- Soap
- Maude
- Chico and the Man
- The Odd Couple
- Bewitched
- The Patty Duke Show
- The Beverly Hillbillies
- F Troop
- Get Smart and
- The Andy Griffith Show – just to name a few.
Lane worked into his 90s, literally growing into the old man character he perfected so adroitly on stage and camera. His son was there when he took his final curtain call. “He was lying in bed with his eyes real wide open,” his son Tom relates. “Then he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.”
Lane’s remarkable career spanned more than 60 years and his life was equally long. He was 102.
Photo Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
