Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, the future movie and TV actress moved to Hollywood as a teenager with intentions of enrolling at UCLA. A chance encounter with Ken Murray in a Hollywood & Vine restaurant landed her in the comedian's vaudeville show. She started out as a chorus girl and worked her way up to doing skits before moving on to work for veteran showman Earl Carroll and later touring with the USO. Coates got some of her first motion picture experience in comedy short subjects at Warner Brothers and then graduated to roles in early '50s films. After a one-season stint with the Man of Steel (George Reeves as TV's "Superman"), Coates began to divide her time between TV, B-movie assignments and serials at Republic.



Years after gaining fame as TV's first Lois Lane on "Adventures of Superman" (1952), she played Lois Lane's mother on an episode of "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" (1993). Is portrayed by Lorry Ayers in Hollywoodland (2006) In what can be considered the "first sitcom", she appeared opposite George Hanlan, as Alice McDoakes, from 1948-56 in the "Joe McDoakes" movie shorts.