Charles Lane

Who was Charles Lane?

Charles Lane was an American character actor whose career spanned 64 years. Lane turned in his last performance at the age of 90. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Arsenic and Old Lace and It's a Wonderful Life. He was a 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. His first film of more than 250 movies was as a hotel clerk in Smart Money starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney.