Charles Lane (January 26, 1905 – July 9, 2007) was one of Hollywood's most notable and recognizable character actors whose career spanned over 70 years. He appeared as Judge Baker, the man who find's Mork's file from the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization on his desk, from the previous year, and who holds Mork's future in his hands, in Season 2's Little Orphan Morkie.
Biography[]
Charles Lane was born Charles Gerstle Levison; January 26, 1905 to a Jewish family in San Francisco, California, to parents Alice (née Gerstle) and Jacob B. Levison. His father, an executive at the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, was instrumental in rebuilding San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake of which Lane was one of the last remaining survivors.
In 1931, Lane married Ruth Covell, and they remained together for 70 years until her death in 2002. They had a son, Tom, and a daughter, Alice.
Despite his stern, hard-hearted demeanor in most of his film and television roles, friends and acquaintances have unanimously described Lane as a warm, funny and kind person. On January 26, 2007, Lane celebrated his 102nd birthday.
He continued to live in the Brentwood home he bought with Ruth (for $46,000 in 1964) until his death. He died from natural causes. Lane was not the only person in his family to have a long life; in 1973 his mother, Alice, died in her San Francisco home at the age of 100.
Career[]
Lane's amazing career spanned 72 years and 250 movies working with many legendary names both in front of and behind the camera. Before taking to the boards, he spent a short time as an insurance salesman dabbling here and there in various theatre shows, until he was prodded by a friend, director Irving Pichel, to consider acting as a profession. and taking to the stage at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1929 which, at the time, had built up a solid reputation for training stage actors for the cinema. While there he performed in scores of classical and contemporary plays.
His first film of that 250 was anonymously as a hotel clerk in Smart Money (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. 4 years later Lane was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild.
Lane became a favorite stock player of Frank Capra appearing in many of his films, including Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Riding High (1950).
He typically performed many of his early atmospheric roles without screen credit and at a cost of $35 per day, but he always managed to seize the moment with whatever brief bit he happened to be in. People always remembered that face and raspy drone of a voice. He appeared in so many pictures (in 1933 alone he made 23 films!), that he would occasionally go out and treat himself to a movie only to find himself on screen, forgetting completely that he had done a role in the film. By 1947 the popular character actor was making $750 a week.
On his busiest days, Lane said he sometimes played more than one role, getting into costume and filming his two or three lines, then hurrying off to another set or studio for a different costume and a different role. 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." Lane is recorded as having appeared in sixty-seven parts in a span of just two years, 1940 to 1942.
He was a good friend and favored supporting actor of Lucille Ball, who often used him as a no-nonsense authority figure and comedic foe of her scatterbrained TV character on her TV series I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour and The Lucy Show.[1] [2]
Filmography (Movies) Select[]
| Year | Movie | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | City Girl | Pedestrian walking in train station |
| 1931 | Smart Money | Hotel Desk Clerk |
| 1933 | 42nd Street | Author of 'Pretty Lady' |
| 1933 | Gold Diggers of 1933 | Society Reporter |
| 1934 | Twentieth Century | Max Jacobs aka Max Mandelbaum |
| 1935 | Princess O'Hara | Morris Goldberg |
| 1936 | Mr. Deeds Goes to Town | Hallor, crook lawyer |
| 1938 | You Can't Take It with You | Wilbur G. Henderson |
| 1938 | Blondie | Furniture Salesman |
| 1939 | Rose of Washington Square | Sam Kress, booking agent |
| 1939 | Golden Boy | Drake - Reporter |
| 1939 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington | "Nosey", reporter |
| 1939 | The Cat and the Canary | Reporter |
| 1940 | Edison, the Man | Second Lecturer |
| 1941 | Ball of Fire | Larsen |
| 1942 | Tarzan's New York Adventure | Gould Beaton |
| 1942 | Are Husbands Necessary? | Mr. Brooks |
| 1944 | Arsenic and Old Lace | Reporter |
| 1946 | It's a Wonderful Life | Potter's Rent Collector |
| 1947 | The Farmer's Daughter | Jackson - Campaign Reporter |
| 1948 | State of the Union | Blink Moran |
| 1949 | Mighty Joe Young | Producer |
| 1950 | Backfire | Dr. Nolan |
| 1951 | Here Comes the Groom | FBI Agent Ralph Burchard |
| 1953 | The Affairs of Dobie Gillis | Chemistry Professor Obispo |
| 1955 | Kiss Me Deadly | Doctor |
| 1958 | Teacher's Pet | Roy |
| 1962 | The Music Man | Constable Locke |
| 1963 | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World | Airport Manager |
| 1963 | Papa's Delicate Condition | Mr. Cosgrove |
| 1964 | The Carpetbaggers | Denby |
| 1966 | The Ugly Dachshund | Judge |
Filmography (TV) Select[]
| Year | TV Series | Episodes | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Burns & Allen TV Series | Jan 1, 1953 | Mr. Fitzpatrick |
| 1953-56 | I Love Lucy | Lucy Goes to the Hospital
Lucy Tells the Truth The Business Manager Staten Island Ferry |
Mr. Stanley
Casting Director Mr. Hickox Passport Office Clerk |
| 1958 | Perry Mason | The Case of the Fiery Fingers | Dr. Williams |
| 1958 | The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour | Lucy Hunts Uranium
Lucy Goes to Mexico |
Claims Clerk
Customs Officer |
| 1959-1963 | The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis | 6 Episodes | Zoology Teacher
Chester L. Wayzack, Esq Prof. McGuffy Charles Wayzak P.T. Atwater |
| 1960-1962 | Dennis The Menace | Alice's Birthday
The Going Away Gift Dennis and the Fishing Rod The Fifty-Thousandth Customer Community Picnic The New Principal |
Lawrence Finch |
| 1961 | The Tab Hunter Show | Personal Appearance | Dr. Spike |
| 1962 | The Lucy Show | Lucy Misplaces $2,000
Lucy Buys a Sheep Lucy Is a Kangaroo for a Day Vivian Sues Lucy |
Mr. Barnsdahl |
| 1962 | Mister Ed | Wilbur in the Lion's Den | Charley Foster |
| 1963–1968 | Petticoat Junction | 24 episodes | Homer Bedloe |
| 1963-1971 | The Beverly Hillbillies | 7 Episodes | Foster Phinney |
| 1964 | The Andy Griffith Show | Aunt Bee the Crusade | Mr. Frisby |
| 1964 | Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. | Pay Day | General Richards |
| 1964–1972 | Bewitched | 8 Episodes | Various |
| 1965 | Get Smart | My Nephew the Spy | Uncle Abner |
| 1965 | The Munsters | The Most Beautiful Ghoul in the World | Mr. Sampson |
| 1966 | F Troop | Reach for the Sky, Pardner | Mr. S. A. MacGuire |
| 1966-67 | The Phyllis Diller Show | 6 Episodes | Maxwell |
| 1966 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | The Pop Art Affair | Ralph Harrison |
| 1967 | The Wild Wild West | The Night of the Hangman | Roger Creed |
| 1968 | Green Acres | The Rummage Sale | Mr Wilson |
| 1970-1971 | Nanny and the Professor | Nanny on Wheels
One for the Road |
Driving Inspector
Ticket Seller |
| 1973 | The Odd Couple | Take my Furniture, Please | Sid |
| 1976 | Sybil | Episode #1.1
Episode #1.2 |
Dr. Quinoness |
| 1976 | Chico and the Man | Old Is Gold | Fred Cripps |
| 1977 | Maude | Arthur's Crisis | Doc Pritchard |
| 1977–1978 | Soap | 7 Episodes | Judge Petrillo |
| 1979-1981 | Lou Grant | Gambling
Generations |
Mort Farber
Rupert Hume |
| 1980 | Mork & Mindy | Little Orphan Morkie | Judge Baker |
| 1982 | Little House on the Prairie | Welcome to Olesonville | Jess Moffet |
| 1987 | St. Elsewhere | Weigh In, Way Out | Richard Welte |
| 1989 | L.A. Law | Leave It to Geezer | Walter Graf |
His final acting role was at the age of 101 as a narrator in 2006's The Night Before Christmas. His last television appearance was at the age of 90, when he appeared in the 1995 Disney TV remake of its 1970 teen comedy The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, with Kirk Cameron. In 2005, the TV Land Awards paid tribute to Lane by celebrating his 100th birthday. Seated in a wheelchair in the audience, which had sung Happy Birthday to him, Lane was presented with his award by Haley Joel Osment and then announced "If you're interested, I'm still available [for work]!" The audience gave him a standing ovation.[1]
Mork & Mindy[]
Judge Baker is the unfortunate member of the judiciary landed with Mork's immigration file after the Orkan's visit to the Immigration offices the previous year in Mork and the Immigrant. Telling Mindy and Mork, that Mork has to bring his passport and birth certificate to him or face deportation he affords them 5 days grace, then rises up to tells them that he's off to take '2 Adult Strength' pain killers, thanks to the antics of the pair of them. Pausing only on Mindy's question about whether their might be another way for Mork to say if he can't find either his passport or birth cert, to answer, yes, if he marries an American citizen.
Note:[]
Robert Donner, who played Exidor (who ends up resolving the issue for Mork) was one of Charles Lane's closest friends, though they didn't share any scenes in the episode. Despite a significant age gap of 26 years in Donner's favour, Charles Lane survived his friend by a year. [3]