Lois Nettleton  

Biography

Lois June Nettleton was an American film, stage, radio, and television actress. She received three Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won two Daytime Emmy Awards. She performed in dozens of guest-starring roles on television shows. Early roles included The Twilight Zone; Naked City; Route 66; Mr. Novak; The Alfred Hitchcock Hour; The Eleventh Hour; Dr. Kildare; Twelve O'Clock High; The Fugitive; The F.B.I.; “[[Cannon}}”; Bonanza; Gunsmoke; The Virginian; and Daniel Boone. In 1973, she appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Lou Grant's new boss, Barbara Coleman, where she had a crush on Mr. Grant. She appeared in the pilot episode of The Eddie Capra Mysteries in 1978, as well as hit TV miniseries such as Washington: Behind Closed Doors and Centennial, as the murderous Maude Wendell. In 1987, she portrayed the role of Penny VanderHof Sycamore on the TV series version of the classic Kaufman and Hart comedy play You Can't Take It with You with Harry Morgan and Richard Sanders. She was a regular celebrity guest on various versions of the game show Pyramid from the 1970s through 1991. Nettleton won two Emmy Awards during her career. She won one for her role as Susan B. Anthony in the television film The American Woman: Profiles in Courage, and for "A Gun for Mandy", which was an episode of the religious anthology Insight. She received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for an episode of The Golden Girls. She also received Emmy nominations for her work in the TV movie Fear on Trial and for a recurring role on the series In the Heat of the Night in 1989. Nettleton appeared in a 2006 Christmas TV movie special titled The Christmas Card. A life member of the Actors Studio, Nettleton made her Broadway debut in the 1949 production of Dalton Trumbo's play, The Biggest Thief in Town using the name Lydia Scott. She appeared in a 1959 off-Broadway production of Look Charlie, which was written by her future husband, humorist Jean Shepherd. She received critical praise for her performance as Blanche DuBois in a 1973 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Nettleton was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Amy in a 1976 revival of They Knew What They Wanted. Other stage credits include Broadway productions of Darkness at Noon and Silent Night, Lonely Night. She continued to act onstage into her 70s. Her final stage performance was in 2004, in an off-Broadway play, How to Build a Better Tulip. In her later years, she did several voice roles for Disney, such as Disney's House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains (as Maleficent), and Herc's Adventures. She appeared in episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater.