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Charles Lane

Mean, miserly and miserable-looking, Charles Lane (born Charles Gerstle Levison) was a character actor whose career spanned 72 years, with roles in such film classics as It’s a Wonderful Life, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and Twentieth Century. He also had a recurring role as the scheming railroad man, Homer Bedloe, on the 1960s sitcom Petticoat Junction and appeared often on I Love Lucy. Lane continued to act into his 90s. One of the first to join the Screen Actors Guild, he was paid $35 a day, sometimes working in three or four pictures a day!

Aliases
  • Charlie Lane
  • Charles L. Lane
  • Charles Levinson
  • Charles Levison
English
Filmography

The Aristocats

1970
as Georges Hautecour (voice)

It's a Wonderful Life

1946
as Real Estate Salesman

5th Ave Girl

1939
as Union Representative

Blondie Plays Cupid

1940
as Train Conductor

Buck Benny Rides Again

1940
as Charlie Graham

The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock

1959
as Standard Bates

Cocoanut Grove

1938
as Weaver

The Winning of Barbara Worth

1926
as Jefferson Worth

The Mad Martindales

1942
as Virgil Hickling

Here Comes the Groom

1951
as Ralph Burchard

Edison, the Man

1940
as Second Lecturer

Thru Different Eyes

1942
as Mott

Movie Movie

1978
as Judge

The Crime of Dr. Forbes

1936
as Defense Attorney

News Is Made at Night

1939
as District Attorney Rufe Reynolds

Danger - Love at Work

1937
as Gilroy, an attorney

Easy to Take

1936
as Skip - Reporter

Without Limit

1921
as Clement Palter

A Close Call for Ellery Queen

1942
as Coroner

Rose of Washington Square

1939
as Sam Kress

The Ugly Dachshund

1966
as Judge

On Their Own

1940
as Johnson

Beware Spooks!

1939
as Moore

The World Through the Eyes of Children

1975
as Steve

Kentucky

1938
as Auctioneer

Stella Dallas

1925
as Stephen Dallas, Sr.

Back Street

1941
as Reporter for Associated News

I'll Fix It

1934
as Al Nathan (as Charles Levinson)

About Face

1942
as Rental Car Manager

Born to Sing

1942
as Johnny

The Great Profile

1940
as Director

The Ghost & Mr. Chicken

1966
as Whitlow

Dancing on a Dime

1940
as Freeman Taylor

The Wheeler Dealers

1963
as Judge

Posse

1993
as Weezie

Blondie

1938
as Furniture Salesman

The Restless Sex

1920
as John Cleland

The Carpetbaggers

1964
as Denby

Rendezvous in Space

1964
as Man-in-street interview

Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady?

1968
as Mr. Duckworth

Friendly Enemies

1942
as Braun

Sidewalk Stories

1989
as Artist

The Invisible Informer

1946
as Nick Steele

The Pruitts of Southampton

1966

Marriage License?

1926
as Sir John

Strange Invaders

1983
as Prof. Hollister

Charlie McCarthy, Detective

1939
as Charlie's Doctor

Looking For Love

1964
as Screen test director

Two for Tonight

1935
as Writer

The Canary Murder Case

1929
as Charles Spottswoode

Sealed Lips

1942
as Attorney Emanuel 'Manny' T. Dixon

Miracles For Sale

1939
as Fleetwood Apartments Desk Clerk

Golden Boy

1939
as Reporter Drake

If Women Only Knew

1921
as Dr. John Strong

What's So Bad About Feeling Good?

1968
as Dr. Shapiro

Repent at Leisure

1941
as Clarence Morgan

The House Across the Street

1949
as Apartment Manager

Broadway Rose

1922
as Peter Thompson

Broadway Scandals

1929
as Manager

Smoked Hams

1934
as Man in audience

Barbed Wire

1927
as Colonel Duval

Woman Wanted

1935
as Defense Attorney Herman

A Gentleman at Heart

1942
as Holloway

Married Alive

1927
as Mr. Fountain

Acting on Impulse

1993
as Bellhop

Strange Behavior

1981
as Donovan

Born Reckless

1937
as Barnes's lawyer

Dear Phoebe

1954

The Road to Singapore

1931
as Desk Clerk at Club

We Who Are Young

1940
as Perkins

Intrigue

1947
as Hotel Desk Clerk

But Not for Me

1959
as Al Atwood

The Return of the Beverly Hillbillies

1981
as Chief

Ball of Fire

1941
as Larsen

My Woman

1933
as Conn

The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

1968

Papa's Delicate Condition

1963
as Mr. Cosgrove

Obliging Young Lady

1942
as Private Detective Smith

How Women Love

1922
as Ogden Ward

The Gentleman from Nowhere

1948
as Fenmore

Rhythm on the River

1940
as Bernard Schwartz

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery

1941
as Doc Prouty

The Second Face

1950
as Mr. Westcott

Manhattan Parade

1931
as Desk clerk

They All Come Out

1939
as Psychiatrist

Mission to Moscow

1943
as Man in Kitchenin Montage

You Can't Take It with You

1938
as Henderson

God Is My Partner

1957
as Judge Warner

The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes

1995

36 Hours to Kill

1936
as Lawyer Rickert

Home in Wyomin'

1942
as Newspaper Editor

The Mouthpiece

1932
as Hotel Desk Clerk

Broadway Thru a Keyhole

1933
as Columnist #2

Rookie Fireman

1950
as Loan Officer

Johnny Apollo

1940
as Assistant D.A.

Lucky Night

1939
as Carpenter

Professor Beware

1938
as Joe - Photographer

Arsenic and Old Lace

1944
as Reporter at Marriage License Office

Second Fiddle

1939
as Studio Chief

Looking for Trouble

1934
as Switchboard Operator

Ali Baba Goes To Town

1937
as Doctor

Sadie Thompson

1928
as Dr. Angus McPhail

Smart Money

1931
as Hotel Desk Clerk

The Doctor Takes a Wife

1940
as Reporter

Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime

1941
as Dr. Prouty (coroner)

Bury Me Dead

1947
as Brighton

Boy Slaves

1939
as Albee

The Affairs of Dobie Gillis

1953
as Prof. Obispo

Murphy's Romance

1985
as Amos Abbott

Karen (1975)

1975

Remains to Be Seen

1953
as Delapp (examiner)

Three Girls About Town

1941
as Mortician

You Can't Fool Your Wife

1940
as Salesman

Ellery Queen, Master Detective

1940
as Dr. Prouty

The White Sister

1923
as Prince Chiaromonte

Smart Woman

1948
as Reporter

Good Neighbor Sam

1964
as Jack Bailey

The Juggler

1953
as Rosenberg

Venus Makes Trouble

1937
as District Attorney

42nd Street

1933
as Playwright of 'Pretty Lady'

One Mile From Heaven

1937
as Webb

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939
as Nosey Newsman

The Branded Woman

1920
as Herbert Averill

Romola

1924
as Baldassar Calvo

The Sniper

1952
as Loud Drunk at Paper Doll Club

Let Us Live

1939
as Auto Salesman

The Cat and the Canary

1939
as Reporter

The Gnome-Mobile

1967
as Dr. Scoggins

Roses Are Red

1947
as Lipton

Barnacle Bill

1941
as Auctioneer

Teacher's Pet

1958
as Roy

I Wake Up Screaming

1941
as Keating- Florist

Inside Story

1939
as District Attorney

The Mating Game

1959
as Inspector general Bigelow

Internes Can't Take Money

1937
as Grote

State of the Union

1948
as Blink Moran

The History of Hooterville

2005
as Charles Lane

Trapped by G-Men

1937
as Fingers

The Florentine Dagger

1935
as Man in Front Row (archive footage)

Broadway

1942
as Hungry Harry

Riding High

1950
as Erickson

The Music Man

1962
as Constable

The Leather Pushers

1940
as Henry 'Mitch' Mitchell

The Little Dragons

1980
as J.J.

We're on the Jury

1937
as Horace Smith

True Identity

1991
as Duane

Blessed Event

1932
as Kane

The Invisible Woman

1940
as Growley

The Milky Way

1936
as Willard

Sing Another Chorus

1941
as Ryan

Mr. Skitch

1933
as Hotel Clerk

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

1920
as Dr. Richard Lanyon

Sunset Limousine

1983
as Reinhammer

The Great Man's Whiskers

1972
as Philbrick

The Texas Rangers Ride Again

1940
as Train Passenger

Lady Luck

1936
as Feinberg

Two-Fisted Gentleman

1936
as Joe Gordon

Tarzan's New York Adventure

1942
as Gould Beaton, Sargent's Lawyer

Out of the Storm

1948
as Mr. Evans

Mysterious Intruder

1946
as Detective Burns

Always in Trouble

1938
as Donald Gower

One More Spring

1935
as Representative

Buy Me That Town

1941
as J. Montague Gainsborough

Twentieth Century

1934
as Max Jacobs

Honeymoon in Bali

1939
as Photographer

In Old Chicago

1938
as Booking Agent (scenes deleted)

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

1963
as Airport Manager

Billie

1965
as Coach Jones

Director

Movie Sidewalk Stories 1989
Movie True Identity 1991

Writer

Movie Sidewalk Stories 1989

Producer

Movie Sidewalk Stories 1989
Movie Alma's Rainbow 1994

Guest Star

Episode The Real McCoys
Sir Fergus McCoy 		1963
Episode Burke's Law
Who Killed Harris Crown? 		1963
Episode Get Smart
My Nephew the Spy 		1965
Episode The Andy Griffith Show
Aunt Bee, the Crusader 		1964
Episode Rhoda
The Honeymoon 		1974
Episode Lawman
The Doctor 		1962
Episode Little House on the Prairie
Welcome To Olesonville 		1982
Episode Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
The Prize Boat 		1967
Episode Bewitched
Samantha's Magic Potion 		1970
Episode Richard Diamond, Private Detective
One Foot in the Grave 		1958
Episode Nanny and the Professor
One For the Road 		1971
Episode Dennis the Menace
The Going Away Gift 		1961
Episode He & She
The Old Man and the She 		1967
Episode Nanny and the Professor
Nanny on Wheels 		1970
Episode The Wild Wild West
The Night of the Hangman 		1967
Episode Bewitched
You're So Agreeable 		1969
Episode Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Pay Day 		1964
Episode The Real McCoys
The Egg War 		1957
Episode Dennis the Menace
Dennis and the Fishing Rod 		1961
Episode Mister Ed
Wilbur in the Lion's Den 		1962
Episode Bewitched
Make Love, Not Hate 		1970
Episode The Restless Gun
The Suffragette 		1958
Episode Lou Grant
Gambling 		1979
Episode SurfSide 6
The Money Game 		1962
Episode Otherworld
Village of the Motorpigs 		1985
Episode Bewitched
School Days, School Daze 		1972
Episode Dennis the Menace
The Fifty-Thousandth Customer 		1961
Episode Phyl & Mikhy
Episode Four 		1980
Episode Hunter
The Girl Next Door 		1987
Episode I Love Lucy
The Business Manager 		1954
Episode Maude
Arthur's Crisis 		1977
Episode The Munsters
The Most Beautiful Ghoul in the World 		1966
Episode Bewitched
Laugh, Clown, Laugh 		1971
Episode I Love Lucy
Staten Island Ferry 		1956
Episode Dennis the Menace
Alice's Birthday 		1960
Episode Perry Mason
The Case of the Fiery Fingers 		1958
Episode Bewitched
The Warlock in the Gray Flannel Suit 		1971
Episode 77 Sunset Strip
The Tarnished Idol 		1963
Episode Lou Grant
Generations 		1981
Episode Maverick
Mr. Muldoon's Partner 		1962
Episode St. Elsewhere
Weigh In, Way Out 		1987
Episode The Smothers Brothers Show
A Boarding House is Not a Home 		1965
Episode Bewitched
Speak the Truth 		1965
Episode The Twilight Zone
Mr. Bevis 		1960
Episode The Odd Couple
Take My Furniture, Please 		1973
Episode The Lucy Show
Lucy Misplaces $2,000 		1962
Episode Living Biblically
Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness 		2018
Episode Green Acres
The Rummage Sale 		1968
Episode Dennis the Menace
The New Principal 		1962
Episode F Troop
Reach for the Sky, Pardner 		1966
Episode The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Pop Art Affair 		1966
Episode The Lucy Show
Lucy Buys a Sheep 		1962
Episode Bewitched
Humbug Not to Be Spoken Here 		1967
Episode Saints and Sinners
A Taste of Evil 		1962
Episode Mork & Mindy
Little Orphan Morkie 		1980
Episode One Day at a Time
Julie's Job 		1976
Episode L.A. Law
Leave It to Geezer 		1989
Episode Dennis the Menace
Community Picnic 		1962
Episode The Real McCoys
Once There was a Traveling Saleswoman 		1958
Episode I Love Lucy
Lucy Goes to the Hospital 		1953
Episode One Day at a Time
Honeymoon II 		1983
Episode The Untouchables
The Big Train (2) 		1961
Episode I Love Lucy
Lucy Tells the Truth 		1953
Episode Pete and Gladys
The House Next Door 		1961