Charles Lane, 102; actor played crank in hundreds of films

LOS ANGELES -- 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 1931, has died. He was 102.

Mr. Lane died Monday night at his home in Brentwood on the west side of Los Angeles, according to his son, Tom.

Although 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" (Mr. Potter's employee), "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.

Starting in the early 1950s, Mr. 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 Los Angeles 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."

Throughout the 1960s, '70s and '80s, Mr. 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, he played Homer Bedloe, a scheming trouble-shooter in "Petticoat Junction."

After more than 60 years of acting, Mr. Lane last appeared in a TV movie in 1995.

He 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, and he appeared 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.

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.

Mr. 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," Mr. Lane said. "He had an intuitive feeling with scripts. And on top of that, he had this marvelous ability to relate."

As he neared 101, Mr. Lane was working with filmmakers Garret Boyajian and George Ridjaneck on a documentary about his life titled "You Know the Face."

Mr. Lane's wife of 71 years, actress Ruth Covell, died in 2002. He leaves a son, Tom, of Santa Monica; a daughter, Alice Deane, of Friday Harbor, Wash.; and a granddaughter.