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Charles Lane (actor, born 1905)

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Charles Lane (born January 26, 1905 in San Francisco, California as Charles Gerstle Levinson) is an American character actor, seen on countless movies and TV shows.

File:Charles lane.jpg

He appeared in most Frank Capra films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace, and It's a Wonderful Life.

Among his many roles as a character actor, Lane is perhaps most widely remembered for his portrayal of J. Homer Bedlow on Petticoat Junction. Bedlow was a mean-spirited, yet somehow also gentle, railroad executive who visited the Shady Rest Hotel periodically attempting to find justification for ending the train service of the Hooterville Cannonball (and never succeeding).

Despite his stern, hardhearted demeanor in films and television, friends and acquaintances seem to unanimously describe Lane as warm, funny, and kind. He has never been arrested, never been fodder for the Hollywood press. He was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild in 1933.

In 1990, Lane was rushed to the hospital, having difficulty breathing. A doctor asked if he was still smoking, and Lane replied that he had kicked the habit 45 minutes earlier. He never smoked again.

Concurrent with his big break into movies as an extra, Lane married his sweetheart Ruth Covell in 1931. They remained together until her death in 2002. Lane still lives in the Brentwood home he bought with her, for $46,000, in 1964. He walks with a cane, but remains healthy, and says he is still available for work.

As for being typecast, Lane described it as "a pain in the ass. You did something that was pretty good, and the picture was pretty good. But that pedigreed you into that type of part, which I thought was stupid, and unfair, too. It didn't give me a chance, but it made the casting easier for the studio."

All told, Lane appeared in more than 150 films and hundreds of television shows. On his busiest days, Lane said he sometimes played more than one role -- getting into costume and filming his two or three lines, they hurrying off to another set for a different costume and a different role.

His last film was Date With An Angel, with Phoebe Cates and Emmanuelle Béart. His last TV performance was in the 1995 remake of Disney's The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes with Kirk Cameron. His last professional appearance was a pre-recorded segment in a 2005 TV Land tribute, celebrating his 100th birthday.

Pichel, the moviemaker who first suggested that Lane go into acting, made the same suggestion many years later, to Natalie Wood.

Filmography

  1. Date with an Angel (1987) .... Father O'Shea
  2. Vanishing America (1986) (V) .... Shopkeeper

... aka Rich Hall's Vanishing America (USA: complete title)

  1. When the Bough Breaks (1986) (TV) .... Van der Graaf
  2. Murphy's Romance (1985) .... Amos Abbott
  3. Strange Invaders (1983) .... Prof. Hollister
  4. "The Winds of War" (1983) (mini) TV Series .... Adm. William Standley
  5. Sunset Limousine (1983) (TV) .... Reinhammer
  6. Strange Behavior (1981) .... Donovan

... aka Dead Kids (USA: video title) ... aka Human Experiments (UK: reissue title) ... aka Small Town Massacre

  1. The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies (1981) (TV) .... Chief
  2. The Little Dragons (1980) .... J.J.

... aka Dragons (UK: video title) ... aka Karate Kids USA

  1. Movie Movie (1978) .... Judge/Mr. Pennington
  2. Sybil (1976) (TV) .... Dr. Quinoness
  3. "Karen" (1975) TV Series .... Dale Busch (II - 1975)
  4. Get to Know Your Rabbit (1972) .... Mr. Beeman
  5. The Great Man's Whiskers (1972) (TV) .... Philbrick
  6. Hitched (1971) (TV) .... Round Tree

... aka Westward the Wagon (UK)

  1. The Aristocats (1970) (voice) .... Georges Hautecourt, Madame's Lawyer
  1. My Dog, the Thief (1969) (TV) .... Mr. Pfeiffer
  2. Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? (1968) .... Mr. Duckworth
  3. What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968) .... Dr. Shapiro
  4. The Gnome-Mobile (1967) .... Dr. Scoggins
  5. Eight on the Lam (1967) (uncredited) .... Bank Examiner

... aka Eight on the Run (UK)

  1. "The Pruitts of Southampton" (1966) TV Series .... Maxwell

... aka The Phyllis Diller Show (new title)

  1. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966) .... Whitlow
  2. The Ugly Dachshund (1966) .... Judge
  3. Billie (1965) .... Coach Jones
  4. John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965) .... 'Strife' Magazine editor
  5. Looking for Love (1964) .... Screen Test Director
  6. Good Neighbor Sam (1964) .... Jack Bailey
  7. The New Interns (1964) .... Connors
  8. The Carpetbaggers (1964) .... Denby
  9. "Petticoat Junction" (1963) TV Series .... Homer Bedloe (1963-1968) (original cast)
  10. The Wheeler Dealers (1963) (uncredited) .... Judge

... aka Separate Beds (UK)

  1. It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) .... Airport manager

... aka It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (USA: promotional title)

  1. Papa's Delicate Condition (1963) .... Mr. Cosgrove
  2. Ernestine (1962) (TV)
  3. The Music Man (1962) .... Constable Locke
  4. Alcatraz Express (1960) (TV)

... aka The Big Train (USA)

1950s

1940s

1930s

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