Lane Smith, 69; Character Actor Gained Fame Playing Nixon in ‘The Final Days’
LA Times
Lane Smith, the actor who portrayed President Nixon in the 1989 docudrama “The Final Days” and apoplectic Daily Planet editor Perry White in the 1990s television series “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman,” has died. He was 69.
Smith died Monday at his Los Angeles home of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease, his family said.
A veteran stage actor with scores of character parts in film and television, Smith achieved instant fame when he took on the role of Nixon in the production based on the book “The Final Days” by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. Smith’s performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination.
Although he had been acting for three decades when he was cast as Nixon, Smith told Newsday when the show aired that he considered the role “a tremendous career break.”
“It’s an actor’s dream to play something like this,” he said. “I consider this my masterwork.”
The program itself generated controversy with Nixon supporters labeling it a “smear,” and Nixon critics saying it was too sympathetic to the fallen leader. But Smith won critical praise for capturing the physical gestures, mannerisms and what he considered the Greek tragedy of the only U.S. president forced to resign in disgrace.
Newsweek called Smith’s portrayal “a towering performance” and said: “This docudrama is a one-man show, and perhaps the most incandescent ever to ignite the tube.”
And Newsday said Smith “is such a good Nixon that his despair and sorrow at his predicament become simply overwhelming.”
And then along came Superman.
Smith had been a regular on other series, including the title character’s mentor in the 1986 medical drama “Kay O’Brien” and a corrupt industrialist aiding menacing aliens in the 1985 sci-fi series “V.” But “Lois and Clark,” which starred Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher and ran on ABC from 1993 to 1997, would be his most enduring employer.
In the updated take on the caped crusader from Krypton, White’s favorite expression changed from “Great Caesar’s ghost!” to “Great shades of Elvis!” and the editor spewed Elvis trivia.
