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| A vision in red! Teri Hatcher sees in a sexy new era for reporter Lois Lane in LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. All images: ABC TV/WARNER BROTHERS. |
There's an old saying that behind every great (Super)man there's a great woman, and, in this case, she’s in the shapely form of the feisty and determined news reporter Lois Lane, who truly put the “women” into women’s lib and has emerged as a true and enduring heroine of the comic book universe over the last eighty years-and she still doesn’t look a day over 30 in her sassy comic strip realization!
She may not have had super powers to match the Man of Steel whom she loves and admires, but instead possesses equal might with her penmanship skills and the strength of the written word as she equally fights in her own unique way for truth, justice and the American way, defending the underdog, and often going where angels fear to tread in exposing corruption and fighting evil, as well as getting a good Pulitzer prize winning story to further her career. Yes, she’s very ambitious but there is a warmer side to her motives, and she’s always offering invaluable (if slightly biting), as well as not so invaluable, advice and opinions to friends and acquaintances both personally and professionally as one of the top investigative journalists of the Metropolis city’s ever enduring THE DAILY PLANET newspaper, of which, amongst her colleagues, just happens to be the Red Caped crusader himself in his meek and mild mannered disguise as reporter and super-fast typist, Clark Kent.
Times may change, civilizations and empires may rise and fall, people may come and go, and life goes through good to bad and back again, but Superman’s one and only love for Lois Lane, and vice versa, remains one of the greatest and long lasting iconic romances in American and comics history, and has proved ripe for exploration, both dramatically and for comedic effects, in numerous film and TV adaptations of the SUPERMAN series, first created by the brilliant pairing of Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster all those year ago, with numerous actress bringing their own unique abilities and interpretations to the role, including Noel Neill who played Lois in the early Kirk Alyn and George Reeves serials and series of the forties and fifties (and who would make very memorable cameo appearances in two future SUPERMAN movies), the great Margot Kidder who, in tremendous chemistry with the late, much missed Christopher Reeve, bought a sometimes dipsy, whimsical, slightly modernistic edginess to the role, alongside warm-heartedness and heroism, and, into the 2000’s, young firebrands like Kate Bosworth and Erica Durance, whose revisionist portrayals with small and large screen ventures in SUPERMAN RETURNS and the ever popular, ten season long running series SMALLVILLE, about the life of young Clark Kent, continue to resonate and prove popular with today’s sophisticated audiences.
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| Lois Lane discovers that red is the "in" colour for Kryptonians! |
But it was after the phenomenon of the four SUPERMAN films (1978 to 1987), and a short lived but popular SUPERBOY series, that our hero and his loyal friends got a second rush of popularity and success with the Man of Steel’s origins re-imagined and re-cast for younger audiences with ABC TV’s LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. Here, Dean Cain broke through to star status as the Man of Steel and, though his Earth saving efforts were a bit on the small scale side special effects-wise (due to the confines of a weekly TV production budget), loyal viewers enjoyed his exploits but particularly his scenes as a more modern, less weedy Clark Kent and his will they/won’t they banter with the new actress cast as Lois Lane: another relative unknown, who’d previously had bit parts in films like actioner TANGO AND CASH and TV with STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, a great looking lady who more than looked the part as realized in the comic strips of the time and who proved a fine casting choice, quickly following Cain to star status: Teri Hatcher. Like the ladies who trod the stilettoed path before her, she, too, made the part her own, adding a dash of vulnerable humour but also steely determination, plus the required knack for getting herself into trouble and needing Superman’s help, as the pair created a popular, always developing chemistry to the series, taking on all manner of weird and wonderful baddies, which would last four popular years worldwide and help to solidify the success of the SUPERMAN legend further as an entertainment medium for the next two decades…
Beyond the career mapping LOIS AND CLARK, Hatcher’s acting work in the last fifteen years or so has continued ever successfully, including a memorable guest appearance as a doomed James Bond girl, Paris Carver, in the hit Pierce Brosnan 007 actioner TOMORROW NEVER DIES, and as the dizzy, well intentioned but everything seems to go wrong for her Susan Mayer, one of the popular DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, adding her acting charms and mum next door sexiness to another worldwide TV smash which seemingly has no end in sight.
As the tough but challenging search begins anew for another fine actress to inherit the persona of Lois Lane in starring opposite Brit actor Henry Clavell (best known for his work on THE TUDORS) as Superman, part of Zack Snyder’s new re-imagining of the saga of the adopted child of the late planet Krypton (which may also star such popular stars as Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as his adopted parents, the Kent’s), we wish whoever is selected the very best of luck in playing what remains a great and iconic role, as well as recognizing and saluting all the great actresses who have played Lois in the past.
And, if you’re in the journalist profession, always remember Lois’s advice: “A good reporter doesn’t get great stories. A good reporter makes them great!”
LOIS & CLARK, as well as the five theatrical SUPERMAN movies starring Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh, are available on DVD from WARNER BROTHERS.
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