Charles Lane is best remembered for his face, and grouchy on-screen demeanor, rather than his name.

I just heard about the death of Charles Lane at the age of 102. He died two weeks ago in his Brentwood home which he bought in 1964.

You may not know the name, but I'm sure you know the face. Lane was a character actor who appeared in a lot of movies and television shows. A lot. Lane appeared in more than 600 movies and television episodes in a career that spanned seven decades.

Lane is probably best known as Homer Bedloe on the sixties television show Petticoat Junction. He played the railroad executive who wanted to shut down the Cannonball, the train that connected the towns of Hooterville and Pixlie.

Despite that show being his most well-known legacy Lane did much more than act in a popular television show. He appeared in some of the most famous movies of all time. He was Lionel Barrymore's rent collector in "It's a Wonderful Life"; he was a nosy newsman in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"; and a lawyer in "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town".

When ever Lucille Ball had a show you could bet that her good friend Lane would be appearing on it at some point. His television appearances ran the gamut from "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" to L.A. Law.

Lane began acting in the early 1930's and was active in the Screen Actors Guild, which he helped found. He once said: "They'd work you until midnight and get you back at seven in the morning. The actors were taking a terrible licking physically. Generally, as the case with any union, you form it because people are abused."

Lane was married to his wife, Ruth, for 70 years until her death in 2002. Lane was universally loved by his many friends and family who described him as warm, funny and kind, a description that belied the gruff, curmudgeonly persona he depicted on screen.

Why write a blog entry about Lane? He wasn't like Paris Hilton and Anna Nicole Smith who are famous (or infamous) for being famous. His name was not well known by the public, although the vast majority of that public has seen him do his job. The reason I think Lane deserves mention is that he did what so many people do. They do their jobs. They do them well and they don't make a big fuss about it.

Lane was a craftsman. He did his job well, so well that to many people Charles Lane was the character he was playing.

It is a sign of the times, a sad sign, that Anna Nicole Smith's death is still getting so much air time on national media when her career honestly doesn't merit a two column mention in her home-town newspaper and Charles Lane's death can be so completely overlooked.