Lois Nettleton, a vibrant and versatile actress, established a distinguished reputation on stage, in films, and on television. Born in Oak Park, Illinois, she won the title of Miss Chicago in the 1948 beauty pageant and was a Miss America semifinalist. Despite her family's poverty and early parental divorce, Lois found solace in acting, creating small plays in her backyard as a young girl.
She began her formal training at the age of 11, joining a community theatre and later studying at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and the Actors' Studio in New York City. Lois made her Broadway debut in Dalton Trumbo's "The Biggest Thief in Town" in 1948, using the stage name "Lydia Scott" to distance herself from her given name.
Lois was understudy to Barbara Bel Geddes for the role of "Maggie the Cat" in the original 1955 Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," directed by Elia Kazan. She occasionally got to play the role herself. Lois's personal favorite role was Blanche DuBois in the 1973 stage production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," for which she won the prestigious Clarence Derwent Award.
Lois was married to Jean Shepherd, a radio host and television humorist, for seven years. They met after Lois called Shepherd's nightly radio show and he broadcast their telephone conversations on the air. They appeared together in Shepherd's off-Broadway play "Look Charlie" in 1959.
Lois's official film debut came in the 1962 adaptation of Tennessee Williams's "Period of Adjustment," but she had previously played a small role in Elia Kazan's classic "A Face in the Crowd" in 1957. She went on to act in many films, but her best work was often on stage and television, where she appeared in a wide range of genres and roles.
In a 1985 interview, Lois referred to herself as "a gypsy actress," saying she always sought to be different in every role. She was consistently selective, looking for interesting characters and mature roles to play. Lois gave a particularly fine performance in the classic 1961 "Midnight Sun" episode of "The Twilight Zone" and declared her personal favorite screen role to be that of the Israeli prosecutor in the American Film Theater production of "The Man in a Glass Booth" in 1975.
Roger Ebert wrote in the New York Times that Lois had a "steadiness and intelligence" in the film, and she was "the closest thing the film has to a moral center." Lois was nominated for six Emmy Awards and won twice, for her work in the daytime special "The American Woman: Portraits of Courage" in 1976 and for the episode "A Gun for Mandy" in 1983.
