Lois Nettleton was born on August 16, 1927, in Oak Park, Illinois, to Virginia and Edward L. Nettleton. She graduated from Senn High School in Chicago, where she was a classmate of Lee Stern. She was Miss Chicago of 1948, and a semifinalist at the Miss America 1948 Pageant. Her professional acting career began in 1949. She understudied Barbara Bel Geddes in the original Broadway production of Tennessee Williams\' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and first appeared on television in a 1954 episode of Captain Video.\n', '

Nettleton played Patsy in the radio soap opera The Brighter Day.\n', '

She performed in dozens of guest-starring roles on television shows. Early roles included The Twilight Zone (episode "The Midnight Sun", 1961); Naked City; Route 66; Mr. Novak; The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (episode "The Dark Pool", 1963); The Eleventh Hour; Dr. Kildare; Twelve O\'Clock High; The Fugitive; The F.B.I.; Bonanza; Gunsmoke; The Virginian; and Daniel Boone. In 1973, she appeared on The Mary Tyler Moore Show as Lou Grant\'s new boss, Barbara Coleman, where she had a crush on Mr. Grant.\n', 'She appeared in the pilot episode of The Eddie Capra Mysteries in 1978, as well as hit TV miniseries such as Washington: Behind Closed Doors and Centennial, as the murderous Maude Wendell.\n', '

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