Joan Alexander

Born Louise Abras on April 16, 1915 in St. Paul, Minnesota, Joan Alexander eventually overcame the trauma of being sent to a Long Island convent school at age 3 after her father died. She used her resourcefulness to travel to Europe and study acting with director, Benno Schneider, who was known for his work in the Yiddish theater. Alexander traveled extensively throughout Europe during Hitler’s rise to power.

Best known for her radio role in the 1940s as the voice of Lois Lane in the popular Adventures of Superman series, Joan Alexander began her career as a model and stage actress. When The Adventures of Superman premiered in February 1940, Bud Collyer was cast as Clark Kent, a reporter for the Daily Planet in Metropolis; Joan Alexander was cast as the cynical reporter who was always being rescued by Superman.

While the character Lois, deplored the nerdy and naïve Clark Kent, she adored Superman – not realizing that the two were the same – one, a mild-mannered reporter and the other a super hero. The Adventures of Superman broadcast from WOR, a New York station and was later syndicated on the Mutual network.

Once, in an interview, Collyer remarked that, Joan is one of those rare actresses – especially in radio where you can’t be seen and have to depend entirely on voice – who can go in on something cold and her instincts are so right as an actress that without even a rehearsal or a read-through, she is right. This opinion of Joan Alexander was also how most of the radio world thought of her.

Later, she played Perry Mason’s faithful secretary, Della Street, and was also cast on soap operas such as Lonely Journey,Light of the World and This Is Nora Drake. She became a much sought after character for radio roles because of her versatility.

In 1941, Joan was cast as Carol Bates on the radio soap opera, Bright Horizon. Richard Kollmar played the part of Michael West, an attorney who was run out of the town of Riverfield. When he returned, Carol – played by Joan Alexander – married Michael amid the drama that only a soap opera offers. Alexander was also cast as Althea in the soap opera, Brighter Day. She played the role of a beautiful and self-indulged woman who was obsessed with pursuing a theatrical career.

From 1948 to 1950 she played the part of Ellen Deering secretary to Philo Vance in the detective melodrama of the same name. Other series that she has appeared in and, which can be heard today on RUSC are Columbia Presents Corwin,Crime Club, Words At War and Theater Of Romance

During the late 1960s, Joan Alexander and Bud Collyer got together once again to perform voice-overs for a Saturday morning cartoon show, “The New Adventures of Superman,” on CBS television.

In 1955 Joan Alexander married her third husband Arthur Stanton, an auto distributor who was said to have introduced and helped make the Volkswagen Beetle popular in the United States. Joan became well renowned as a hostess who threw extravagant parties at the couple’s homes in New York and East Hampton, Long Island. They were married until his death in 1987.

Joan Alexander passed away on May 21st 2009 at the age of 94 from an intestinal ailment. She is survived by a daughter from her second marriage (who Stanton adopted) and a son from her third marriage. She and Stanton also had a son who died in 1993.

I will be adding more episodes of Superman and Philo Vance to RUSC in memory of Joan Alexander the wonderful star who will live on in her performances from the golden age of radio. Happy listening my friends,