Skinny, hatchet-faced, bespectacled American character actor, ubiquitous in literally hundreds of films. With his prominent nose, his rimless eyeglasses and his permanent scowl, he typically portrayed short-tempered and often loudmouthed bureaucrats, yes-men and other minor minions, principally in lighter fare.


For prime displays of Lane's acting forte, one may see him as the stage manager (billed as "Charles Levison") in Howard Hawks' Twentieth Century (1934), in which he played with John Barrymore, or as the tax assessor in Frank Capra's You Can't Take It with You (1938), pitted against - coincidentally enough - Lionel Barrymore. Thus may one learn who ordinarily got the better (or the worst) of whom! Years later Lane would again star with Lionel in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), as mean Mr. Potter's rent collector. Made frequent guest appearances on "I Love Lucy" (1951) and "The Lucy Show" (1962), almost always playing some sort of unfriendly bureaucrat with no patience for Lucy's addle-brained schemes. January 30th was named "Charles Lane Day" by the Screen Actors Guild in 2005. Starting on the stage in the late 1920s, he was a founding member of SAG at its first public meeting on October 8, 1933. Father of Tom Lane. One of the first actors to join Screen Actors Guild. Among his most cherished possessions is a letter from director Frank Capra declaring, "Well, Charlie, you've been my No. 1 crutch." Capra cast him in 10 films. Born to Alice G. and Jacob B. Levison. On a short PBS interview about movies, the interviewer asked him if he had any regrets about the movies. He said that he never got to ride a horse in any of his performances. He told the interviewer he was an excellent horseman and had trained some of the western actors how to ride.