Charles Lane born Charles Gerstle Levison January 26 1905 July 9 2007 was an American character actor and centenarian whose career spanned 77 years Lane gave his last performance at the age of 101 as a narrator in 2006 Lane appeared in many Frank Capra films including You Cant Take It With You 1938 Mr Smith Goes to Washington 1939 Arsenic and Old Lace 1944 Its a Wonderful Life 1946 and Riding High 1950 He was a favored supporting actor of Lucille Ball who often used him as a nononsense authority figure and comedic foe of her scatterbrained TV character on her TV series I Love Lucy The LucyDesi Comedy Hour and The Lucy Show His first film of more than 250 was as a hotel clerk in Smart Money 1931 starring Edward G Robinson and James Cagney From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia