Charles Lane, the anonymous yet highly familiar character actor who
specialized in playing humorous cranks in hundreds of film and
television roles stretching back to the early 1930s, has died. He was
102. Lane died Monday night at his home in Brentwood, according to his
son, Tom.

Though his name was known only to a few, his sharply featured face and
lanky presence were recognizable to generations of moviegoers as the
man who suffered fools badly in films such as "Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington" (a newsman), "It's a Wonderful Life" (the rent collector),
"You Can't Take It With You" (an IRS agent), "No Time for
Sergeants" (the draft board driver) and hundreds of others in which he
played shopkeepers, professors, judges, bureaucrats, doctors, "a guy
at the bar," policemen and salesmen. In the 1930s alone, he appeared
in 161 films, sometimes moving from set to set to deliver a few lines
in each of several movies in one day.

"And I was being paid $35 a day," Lane told Associated Press writer
Bob Thomas in an interview just before his 100th birthday. "When the
Screen Actors Guild was being organized, I was one of the first to
join."

Starting in the early 1950s, Lane also appeared on dozens of TV shows,
including "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show." Perhaps most
famously, he appeared in classic episodes of "I Love Lucy," playing
several characters who all seemed to have in common a stunned if
comical lack of patience for the bumbling Lucy. He said it was on this
show that he perfected the crusty skinflint.

"They were all good parts, but they were jerks," he told The Times in
1980 of his characters in "I Love Lucy." "If you have a type
established, though, and you're any good, it can mean considerable
work for you."

And work he got. Throughout the 1960s, '70s and '80s, Lane could be
seen on "Perry Mason," "Dennis the Menace," "The Twilight Zone,"
"Bewitched," "Get Smart," "The Flying Nun," "The Andy Griffith Show,"
"Lou Grant" and many other shows. In the 1970s, he had running parts
on "The Beverly Hillbillies" as Foster Phinney and in "Soap" as Judge
Anthony Petrillo. In the 1960s, audiences got to know him as Homer
Bedloe, a scheming trouble-shooter for the railroad in "Petticoat
Junction."

Max Baer Jr., who played Jethro on "The Beverly Hillbillies," said
that although Lane played "a gruff, arrogant kind of guy" there and in
dozens of other roles, "That was not him at all, that was a
character."

"When he first started acting, when people wanted a guy who was
cantankerous, they cast Charlie," he said.

After more than 60 years of acting, Lane last appeared in a TV movie
in 1995. But he could be seen out and about in Hollywood for another
decade.

In March 2005, he was pictured with a wide smile in Variety while
attending a TV Land Awards event where friends presented him with a
birthday cake after he turned 100. At another centennial party two
months earlier, held by his family and friends, he modestly summed up
his career of mostly smaller parts: "There was a character I played
that showed up all the time and people did get to know hi m, like an
old friend."

Lane was born Charles Levison on Jan. 26, 1905, in San Francisco and
started his work life in the insurance business. In 1928, he joined
the company at the Pasadena Playhouse, which was known for training
actors for the movies, appearing in more than 100 productions over
three decades. He made his film debut as a hotel desk clerk in "Smart
Money" (1931) with Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney.

He eventually perfected the role of a meanie and, although he
occasionally marveled at the parts written for him, he remained
agreeable as he racked up hundreds of parts. His roles were so
numerous that he told TV Guide in 1965 that he occasionally would see
himself in movies on TV and have no memory of having played that role.

"He could do so many different parts, he was so versatile," Paramount
producer A.C. Lyles said. "People would say, 'Try to get Charles Lane,
and if you can't get him, get someone like him.' "

Lane said his favorite director was Frank Capra, who directed him in
eight films, including "You Can't Take It With You," "Mr. Smith Goes
to Washington" and "It's a Wonderful Life."

"He knew the camera better than the head cameraman," Lane said. "He
had an intuitive feeling with scripts. And on top of that, he had this
marvelous ability to relate."

Lane kept a framed letter from Capra in his Brentwood study: "I am
sure that everyone has someone that he can lean on and use as a crutch
whenever stories and scenes threaten to fall apart. Well, Charlie,
you've been my No. 1 crutch."

He told friends and family at the 100th birthday celebration in
January 2005, "Just think, I could have been in the insurance
business!"

As he neared 101, Lane was working with filmmakers Garret Boyajian and
George Ridjaneck on a documentary about his life titled "You Know the
Face." He told the Wall Street Journal that although he had trouble
with his legs, "mentally, apparently, I'm pretty good."

Lane served in the Coast Guard during World War II. His wife of 71
years, actress Ruth Covell, died in 2002. He is survived by his son,
Tom, of Santa Monica; a daughter, Alice Deane, of Friday Harbor,
Wash.; and a granddaughter.

A celebration of his life is being planned.

Instead of flowers, the family suggests that donations be made to the
Motion Picture and Television Fund in Woodland Hills.

         Charles Halton ...  Carter, Bank Examiner (uncredited)

...

Interesting tidbits from:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Lane_%28actor%29

In 1990, Lane was rushed to the hospital after having difficulty breathing. A
doctor asked if he was still smoking, and Lane replied that he had kicked the
habit 45 minutes earlier. He has never smoked again.
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 and then announced "If you're
interested, I'm still available [for work]!" The audience gave him a standing
ovation.

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".

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