Lois Nettleton

Lois Nettleton was born on August 16, 1927, in Oak Park, Illinois, to Virginia and Edward L. Nettleton. She was also raised by her maternal aunt's family. She attended Senn High School, where she was a classmate of Lee Stern,^[2] and Goodman School of Drama at the Art Institute of Chicago. She was crowned Miss Chicago of 1948 and became a semifinalist at the Miss America 1948 pageant.^[3] After performing to favorable reviews with Geraldine Page in repertory theatre at the New Lake Zurich Playhouse in 1946 and with the Woodstock Players the following year, her professional acting career began in 1949. She understudied Barbara Bel Geddes in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and appeared on television in a production of "Flowers from a Stranger" on Westinghouse Studio One on the CBS network in 1949.

Nettleton played Patsy in the soap opera The Brighter Day.^[4]

Nettleton performed in many guest-starring roles on television shows, including The Twilight Zone (episode "The Midnight Sun", 1961), Naked City, Route 66, Mr. Novak, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (episode "The Dark Pool", 1963), The Eleventh Hour, Hawaii Five-O, Dr. Kildare, Twelve O'Clock High, The Fugitive, The F.B.I., Cannon, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Virginian and Daniel Boone.^[5] In 1973, she appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Lou Grant's boss.^[5] In 1975, she appeared as Delonia Cantrell in season 3, episode 18 (Barbary House) and episode 19 (Flight To Orion) of Kung Fu (1972 TV series). She appeared in the pilot episode of The Eddie Capra Mysteries in 1978 and in hit TV miniseries such as Washington: Behind Closed Doors and Centennial.^[5] In 1987, Nettleton portrayed Penny Vanderhof Sycamore on the TV series version of the Kaufman and Hart comedy play You Can't Take It with You with Harry Morgan and Richard Sanders.

Nettleton was a regular celebrity guest on various versions of the game show Pyramid from the 1970s through 1991.^[5]

She won two Emmy Awards during her career. The first was for her role as Susan B. Anthony in the television film The American Woman: Profiles in Courage (1977), and the second for "A Gun for Mandy" (1983), an episode of the religious anthology Insight. She received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for the Golden Girls episode "Isn't It Romantic?". She also received Emmy nominations for her work in the TV movie Fear on Trial (1975) (Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Special) and for a recurring role in the series In the Heat of the Night in 1989 (Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series). Nettleton appeared in a 2006 Christmas TV movie special titled The Christmas Card.

Nettleton appeared in several Hollywood feature films. Her first prominent role came in Period of Adjustment (1962), an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play, as a woman in a troubled marriage.

A lifetime member of the Actors Studio,^[6] Nettleton made her Broadway debut in the 1949 production of Dalton Trumbo's play The Biggest Thief in Town. She appeared in a short-lived off-Broadway production of Look Charlie, which was written by her future husband, humorist Jean Shepherd. It opened for three performances in late December 1958 and closed after several more the following February.^[7][8]

Nettleton received critical praise for her performance as Blanche DuBois in a 1973 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. She was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance as Amy in a 1976 revival of They Knew What They Wanted. Her other stage credits include Broadway productions of Darkness at Noon and Silent Night, Lonely Night.^[9] She continued to act on the stage into her seventies. Her final stage performance was in the 2004 off-Broadway play How to Build a Better Tulip.

Nettleton appeared in episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. In her later years, she performed voice roles as Athena in Herc's Adventures and as Maleficent in House of Mouse and Mickey's House of Villains.

Nettleton was the first caller to Jean Shepherd's late-night radio program on WOR, later becoming his third wife. She was a regular guest, known to the audience as "the listener." They married on December 3, 1960, in Tarrytown, New York^[10] but divorced in 1967.^[11]

Nettleton made her last public appearance in August 2007 at a Twilight Zone convention in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. On January 18, 2008, she died in Woodland Hills, California, at the age of 80 from a brain tumor.^[3]

A highly fictionalized version of Nettleton appears in James Ellroy's 2021 novel Widespread Panic and in his 2023 novel The Enchanters.^[12]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lois Nettleton.

• Lois Nettleton at IMDb
• Lois Nettleton at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lois Nettleton at Find a Grave