Doktor Lane “Doc” Roth
Doktor Lane “Doc” Roth, Communications Educator at Lamar University passed away after a brief illness on May 20, 2025. He will be remembered by his students, colleagues, and friends as a most unique, challenging, and inspiring mentor whose knowledge of various subjects and interests was vast.
Born April 10, 1943, he spent his early years in New York City emersed in the urban environment and influenced by the music and cinematic culture of that vibrant city. All during prep school and college, Dr. Roth felt indifferent to grades, studying only what interested him and pursuing those subjects in depth. Not until graduate school did, he apply himself assiduously to required courses. Unconcerned about approval or validation from faculty or fellow students, he took classes from other departments. His goal was not “success” or the degree, but continuing expansion of knowledge. Broadening his perspective allowed him to make inferential leaps from one discipline to another. His reluctance to conform to departmental expectations led him to seek out doctoral committee members from other departments: English, philosophy, and modern languages. Consequently, his doctoral committee consisted of seven Professors, so his written and oral exams set records for time duration. “In geistiger Fechterstellung” [be in a mental fencing position] became his motto.
Dr. Roth continued exploring new areas after earning his PhD at Florida State University. Fascinated with the depth psychology of Dr. Carl Gustav Jung, Dr. Roth studied in workshops and classes at the Jung Center in Houston, and at the Jung-Institut in Küsnacht, Switzerland. Aniela Jaffé, world-renowned analytical [Jungian] psychologist and prolific author, granted him the honor of interviews inside her Zürich flat, 1987. Most of Dr. Roth’s scholarly film research is grounded in Jungian psychology, comparative mythology [Joseph Campbell, etc.], religious history [Mircea Eliade], and cultural anthropology [Victor Turner and others], etc.
Dr. Roth lectured at Lamar University from 1979 till his retirement in 2014 on courses in film analysis and speech communication. His courses included Film Theory, Psychology of TV & Film, Film Directors, Science Fiction TV/Film Genre, Movies from Novels, American Film, Film Appreciation, and British Film. His classes engaged students in participation, such as storyboarding (sketching and analyzing shots) and question-and-answer sessions. Dr. Roth wrote some lectures in verse to the tunes of pop music. His early years in New York as a folk singer/song writer of the 1960s influenced this teaching method. Students then sang his original lyrics with Dr. Roth as he played the electric guitar. Collected data and anecdotal evidence indicate that these sing-alongs resulted in superior student learning and long-term retention. In Dr. Roth’s classes, students learned by doing. He was honored by the Regents Merit Award for Teaching in 1987.
Dr. Roth’s published research can be found in his book on film theory, published in 2014 by the prestigious Routledge Press in London. Film Semiotics, Metz, and Leone’s Trilogy was the first translation and explication of a French film theory, and its first systematic application – using inferential statistics – to comparative film research. His test case was Italian auteur-director Sergio Leone’s first trilogy. Using categories defined by theorist Christian Metz’s Grande Syntagmatique, painstaking content analysis demonstrated that, on a formal level, the style of all three films was truly consistent enough to constitute a valid trilogy. Scholars had hypothesized this idea but never tested it in a systematic way.
Dr. Roth also co-authored Analyzing Film: An Introduction [Bedford Press, 2008 and 2011]. His most recent scholarly publication was the co-authored Martian Pictures [McFarland Press, 2018]. In addition, Dr. Roth has published chapters in other academic books about vampire films, Westerns, and Steven Spielberg films. His research has been published in refereed, scholarly journals of the humanities, philosophy, English, communication and film. Most of his published work has analyzed science fiction and director John Ford.
Dr. Roth’s media experience included both television and radio. In Indiana, he co-hosted a weekly TV program screening classic film. In Florida, he acted in TV commercials, and he worked as a broadcast engineer for a public radio station where he created, wrote, produced, and performed his own weekly show. He used his gift as an impressionist to write and perform fundraising promotions for 91.3 KVLU Public Radio in Beaumont, Texas.
In the community, Dr. Roth served as president of the Board of Directors of the Mental Health Association, a United Way agency. The Board consisted of mental health professionals, psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed professional counselors and hospital administrators. They honored Dr. Roth with an award for leadership. Previously, Dr. Roth served on the Board and gave guest lectures. Also, in the community, Dr. Roth served as a lector in Holy Masses at St. Anne Catholic Church. Catholic opinion leaders from Dr. Roth’s childhood – Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen and William F. Buckley – continue to influence his current Conservative approach to his life.
In the Department of Communication, Dr. Roth was a faculty sponsor of the Fine Arts Film Society. He occasionally acted in student films that demonstrated proper pre-production planning, and he acted in a featured role as a “perfectly sane German rocket scientist” in colleague O’Brien Stanley’s years-in-the-making sci-fi movie, “The SS Project.” His additional hobbies consisted of writing songs and operating Märklin electric trains in Z-scale. Dr. Roth was more content in Salzburg, Austria where he spent several summers because it was more spiritual, sanitary, serene, scenic, safe, and sane.
In lieu of flowers Dr. Roth would prefer that you watch your favorite film.
A memorial service for Dr. Roth will be 3:00 p.m., Saturday, June 7, 2025, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, 4955 Pine Street, Beaumont. His cremation arrangements were handled through Broussard’s Crematorium under the direction of Broussard’s, 1605 North Major Drive, Beaumont.
Memorial Service
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
- 4955, Pine St, Beaumont, TX, 77703,
- June 7, 2025
- 3:00 pm
I was a student in the early aughts and took every class Doc offered. We hit it off and I ended up serving as president of the Fine Arts Film Society. No one could forget the late nights at Denny’s analyzing films, both the classics and box office releases. I will always treasure those conversations and laughs. He had a tremendous impact on me academically, and I considered him a close friend. Thankful to have known such a character and for all I learned from him. Requiescat in pace.
I was in all of Lane’s classes starting in 1979. I always had a love for film, even as a child. My mother would let me sit up and watch late night movies with her as a child in the 60’s. When Lane and I met we became fast friends. I became the Classic Film Chairman for the Setzer Center Student Committee, probably through Lane’s machinations. We coordinate our showings, during that time, that helped his classes and exposed students to a robust Setzer Center Classic Film series. I graduated in 1980 and Lane and I remained friends and visited quite often for the next 20 years. Eventually drifting apart as I pursued a career and raised a family. I would still share a meal with him on occasion. He would always call me “Mike the K”. We also collaborated on an article for the Kent State Journal. It was about the original “Battlestar Galactica” TV series and the imagery. I will miss knowing that he is not around. After They made him they broke the mold. “Here’s looking at you, Kid.”
Dr. Roth is the reason that, to this day, I will say that the car chase scene in Bullit is the best, though most claim it’s the one in The French Connection. Those in the latter camp never sat through a breakdown of the entire scene in a Dr. Roth class, so they will always be at a loss in that debate. Dr. Roth loved what he taught, and it was evident in the way he taught it. And, that is why so many of us loved being in his classes. He will be greatly missed, but also greatly remembered.
Dr. Roth was one of a kind and I channel him when I say “film,” or “genre” or “copacetic.” His classes influenced my entire life of watching “movies.”
Dr. Roth was one of my all-time favorite college professors at Lamar University. I think my first Roth class was in Fall 1986 – Film Genre: Horror – in which we studied the old classics like Frankenstein (1931), Nosferatu (1922), and many more.
I was hooked. The curriculum content, and his deliver of it, was amazing. His analytical and intellectual thoughts about film were profoundly deep, especially to a young 20-yr-old guy who loved movies.
His eccentric approach and behavior was the stuff of legends. His students would share and compare stories about his germophobia and his fear that someone would plant a bomb under his car.
I began using my communications electives to take as many of Dr. Roth’s classes as I could and I’m glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed each one and Dr. Roth knew me by name for years because of it.
As I read the reminiscences from other students – especially students from the 21st century – I realize that this man continued to evolve in many ways in his approach to teaching and life, proven by the fact that he began put his lectures in verse and sing them in class. He wasn’t doing that in 1988!
I will never forget Dr. Lane Roth and I hope his soul rests in peace. I hope his family and friends are comforted in this time of loss.
So sorry to hear this. I fondly remember him bringing me a bag of the Mozart chocolate balls every fall after returning from his time spent away in Austria. Every year that he brought them home, he would describe how to eat them and how delicious they were like I had never had them before..and his love for trains as he was a miniature train collector. 🥰 A great man; may he rest in peace.