Neill was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1920, the daughter of Minneapolis Star Tribune news editor David Neill and the New York vaudeville performer LaVere Neill.
However, it was the 1950 television series Adventures of Superman, starring George Reeves, which cemented her legacy as the intrepid reporter.
She returned several times to appear in Superman films – working alongside Christopher Reeve in a brief cameo appearance, playing Lois Lane’s mother, in the 1978 film Superman; in the 1980s Superboy series with Gerard Christopher, and finally, in Brandon Routh’s 2006 feature film Superman Returns.
In total, Neill made close to 100 films in her long and incredible career, but it was her role as Lois Lane in the 1948 movie serial Superman that showed her talent for humor.