Actor Lane Smith dies at 69

Actor Lane Smith, who played Richard Nixon in the 1989 TV film "The Final Days," has died at 69.

Smith, who also played Daily Planet editor Perry White in the TV series "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," died Monday at his Los Angeles home of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, his family said.

The Los Angeles Times said Smith was a veteran stage actor with scores of film and TV credits when he was cast as Nixon in the TV adaptation of "The Final Days," an account by Watergate reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of Nixon's last few months in The White House. Smith -- who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his performance -- told United Press International the assignment changed his career.

"Playing Nixon gave me tremendous recognition," he said. "I'd long been known in the business, but it pulled everything together. Finally people could put the name Lane Smith with my face."

Smith's movie credits included "The Mighty Ducks" and "My Cousin Vinny."

His stage credits included a long run -- 650 performances -- in an off-Broadway production of "One Flew over the Cuckooo's Nest" in the late '60s.

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