Lois Nettleton Dies at 80

Stage and screen star Lois Nettleton has passed away from complications with lung cancer, she was 80.

Nettleton was born near Chicago to Edward and Virginia Nettleton and her career stretches all the way back to 1949. She understudied Barbara Bel Geddes in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and first appeared on television in "Captain Video." 

Since then she has performed dozens of guest-starring roles on shows ranging from the original "Twilight Zone" series, where she starred in the classic 1961 episode, "The Midnight Sun", to "Cagney & Lacey," "Seinfeld" and "Baywatch Nights." She also appeared on the soap opera "General Hospital." She also played Blanch du Boise in the widely acclaimed 1973 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Broadway credits include Biggest Thief in Town (1949), Darkness at Noon (1951), God and Kate Murphy (1959), Silent Night, Lonely Night (1959), The Wayward Stork (1966) and Strangers (1979).  She received a Tony Award nomination and Drama Desk Award nomination for her role in They Knew What They Wanted (1976).

Notably, she was the first caller to disk jockey/writer Jean Shepherd's late-night program on WOR-AM. She became a regular guest, known to listeners as "The Caller", and they married in 1960, divorcing seven years later. They had no children.

Donations are suggested to The Actors' Fund for Everyone In Entertainment, 729 Seventh Avenue, 14th Fl., New York, New York 10019.

Lois Nettleton (photo by Walter McBride / Retna Ltd)