| Lola Lane | |
| Birth Name: | Dorothy Mullican |
| Birth Place: | Macy, Indiana, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Calvary Cemetery, Santa Barbara |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Years Active: | 1929–1946 |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | |
Lola Lane (born Dorothy Mullican;[1] May 21, 1906 – June 22, 1981) was an American actress and one of the Lane Sisters with her sisters Leota, Rosemary, and Priscilla Lane. She appeared on Broadway and in films from the 1920s to 1940s.
The daughter of a dentist, Lane was born in Macy, Indiana, and grew up in Indianola, Iowa. As a teenager, she played piano for silent films and sang in a flower shop. Vaudeville entertainer Gus Edwards discovered her and put her on the road to her professional career.[2] [3] Lane and her sister Leota graduated from a conservatory at Simpson College and were performing in New York by 1926.[4] Edwards had discovered them performing in a benefit concert in Des Moines, Iowa.[5]
Edwards changed the actress's name and added her to his touring production, Ritz Carlton Nights. In 1926, she and her sister Leota appeared in the Greenwich Village Follies in New York City. She went on to appear in vaudeville shows on the Orpheum, Loew, and Interstate circuits[2] and later acted on Broadway in The War Song (1928),[6] leading to her work in films when a talent scout saw her. After a screen test, she made her film debut in Speakeasy (1929).[2]
Most of Lane's films were Warner Bros. productions. They included Four Daughters, Four Wives, and Four Mothers, in each of which she appeared with her sisters Priscilla and Rosemary.[2] She also appeared in the Warner Bros. classic Marked Woman (1937) with Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart.
On September 11, 1931, Lane married actor Lew Ayres in Las Vegas, Nevada.[7] They remained wed until 1933. She was also married to Henry Dunham, a yacht broker, and director Roland West. After his death in 1952, she married Robert Hanlon,[2] a retired aircraft executive.
As Democrats, Lane and her sisters supported the campaign of Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election.[8] She converted to Catholicism in 1961.[9]
Lane died at her home in Santa Barbara, California, on June 22, 1981, at age 75. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Santa Barbara.[2]
Comic book writer Jerry Siegel named Lois Lane, the fictional Daily Planet reporter and Superman's girlfriend in DC Comics, after Lola Lane.[10]
In 1967 Lane received a Pope Pius X medal for her efforts in religious training of mentally challenged people.[3]