Charles Lane (actor)

Charles Lane (born Charles Gerstle Levison; January 26, 1905 – July 9, 2007) was an American character actor and centenarian whose career spanned 72 years. Lane gave his last performance at the age of 101 as a narrator in 2006. Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films, including ''Mr. Deeds Goes to Town'' (1936), ''You Can't Take It with You'' (1938), ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939), ''Arsenic and Old Lace'' (1944), ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946) and ''Riding High'' (1950). He was a favored supporting actor of Lucille Ball, who often used him as a no-nonsense authority figure and comedic foe of her scatterbrained TV character on her TV series ''I Love Lucy'', ''The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour'' and ''The Lucy Show''. His first film of more than 250 was as a hotel clerk in ''Smart Money'' (1931) starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. Provided by Wikipedia