Charles Lane dead at 102. Oh, you know him. [View All]

Charles Lane was a skinny, craggy-faced character actor who typically portrayed grumpy neighbors, tightwads, and cold-hearted hotel clerks. In his most famous roles, he worked with director Frank Capra, as Old Man Potter's rent collector in It's A Wonderful Life, as the IRS agent who dogged tax-resister Lionel Barrymore in You Can't Take It With You, and as the reporter who annoyed Jimmy Stewart's idealistic senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Lane started out as an insurance salesman, until an acquaintance, film director Irving Pichel (Destination Moon), suggested he try acting. Lane, then in his 20s, began performing with the Pasadena Playhouse, and landed his first tiny film role as a desk clerk in 1931's Smart Money. Sharp-eyed viewers can spot an uncredited Lane deep in the background in such early talkies as Employees' Entrance and 42nd Street. His first credited role was as a cashier in 1933's Blondie Johnson. Lane drew good reviews for his work in screwball comedies like Twentieth Century or It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World, deadly noir like I Wake Up Screaming, or even amidst the singing and dancing of The Music Man.

Lane had more success guesting on episodic TV. In the episode of I Love Lucy where Lucille Ball gave birth, Lane played a character he described as "this old guy who is expecting his 10th child or something", in the waiting room with pacing, nervous father-to-be Desi Arnaz. Lane appeared on several other episodes of I Love Lucy, playing different harried or put-upon characters. On Bewitched, he made at least eight guest appearances, but never played the same character twice. On Petticoat Junction, he played the cost-cutting railroad executive who tried to eliminate Hooterville's train service. On Dennis the Menace, he was Mr. Finch, the old man who ran the drug store. On Soap, he had a recurring role as Judge Petrillo. On The Beverly Hillbillies, he played Nancy Kulp's untrustworthy landlord.
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