Lois Nettleton (August 6, 1927 - January 18, 2008)

This lady is truly what they mean when they use the words "character actress." During her marvelous career she appeared on "The $10,000 Pyramid", "Studio One", "The United States Steel Hour", "The Twilight Zone", "Route 66", "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour", "Dr. Kildare", "The Fugitive", "Bonanza", "Gunsmoke", "The Virginian", "The F.B.I.", "Cannon", "Barnaby Jones", "Hawaii Five-O", "The Love Boat", "Hotel", "The Facts of Life", "In the Heat of the Night", "The Flash", "Full House", "Coach", "The Cosby Mysteries", "General Hospital", "Spider-Man", "Baywatch Nights", and "Crossing Jordan" In 1948 she was a semi-finalist in the Miss America Pagent. In 1955 she was Barbara Bel Geddes' understudy for the role of Maggie the Cat in the original stage run of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Lois actually played the part a couple of times. Her most memorable television moments for me are: "Mary Tyler Moore" - She played Barbara Coleman, the new owner of WJM who develops a crush on Lou Grant. "Murder, She Wrote" - She appeared in three different episodes and roles but her first was as Amelia, a lovestick spinster secretary who carried a torch for her college professor boss (Peter Graves). "The Golden Girls" - She played Jean, a lesbian, who falls in love with Rose. It is a sensative subject but the writing and acting between Lois and Betty White is so perfectionally done that it is handled just beautifully. "Seinfeld" - She played Mrs. Enright, the lady who catches George Costanza eating an eclar out of the trash and then cleaning a windshield with newspaper. George was dating her daughter at the time. Her career began in the late 1940's and her final television project was the made for television movie "The Christmas Card" which originally aired in 2006.

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