Michele Lee

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Michele Lee (born June 24, 1942 in Los Angeles ) is an American actress . Their greatest success she had at the side of Dean Jones in the hit movie The Love Bug and in the long-standing TV soap opera Knots Landing . In addition, she appeared as a singer and musical performer and occasionally tried herself as a producer and director .

Life

Beginnings

Michele Lee was born on June 24, 1942, the daughter of make-up artist Jack Dusick. Her family was of Russian - Polish origin. Even as a child, Lee occasionally worked as an actress and singer. Her first role was in the late 1950s on the sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis . When she was in tenth grade, she became the lead singer in her school's high school band in Los Angeles . Before graduating from Hamilton University in LA, Lee was offered a role in the Broadway play Vintage '60 . A year later, at the age of 19, she became one of the leading actresses in the Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying . There she met the actor James Farentino , whom she married in 1964 and with whom she remained married until 1983. In 1969 their son David was born. During this time she also played in Bravo Giovanni and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife , both on Broadway .

In the following years, Michele Lee had numerous appearances on television, including the The Danny Kaye Show (1963), where she was able to prove herself as a singer and dancer. In 1962, Lee's first unsuccessful single was released. 1966 followed her debut album A Taste of the Fantastic Michele Lee . Lee finally had a small hit in 1968 with L. David Sloane , who reached number 52 in the US pop charts. In addition, the single also climbed to number 9 on the easy listening charts. Here, too, in 1968 Lee achieved her only two other hits: I Didn't Come to New York to Meet a Guy from My Home Town and a composition by Burt Bacharach and Hal David , Knowing When to Leave , from the musical Promises, Promises .

Lee had her breakthrough in 1967 with the Disney film A Great Beetle , which was to be the prelude to a series of other Herbie films, in which Lee however no longer appeared. In general, Lee then concentrated on roles in television and theater. One exception was ... and then came Polly with Jennifer Aniston and Ben Stiller in the lead roles, which hit theaters in 2004.

After the international success of A Great Beetle , Lee first took a baby break. In 1969 she gave birth to their son David. Only a few months later, her father unexpectedly died of a stroke at the age of 54 . Nevertheless, she starred in television films and series in the early 1970s. In 1974 she received a Tony Award nomination for her work in the musical Seesaw . The attempt in the same year with The Michele Lee Show on television to establish its own comedy series, but failed, the series did not get beyond the pilot episode.

In 1976 her mother died and Lee took a short break. In 1979 she became a leading actress in the series Under the California Sun (original title: Knots Landing), a spin-off of the soap opera Dallas . Michele Lee played in Under the California Sun for 14 years, received multiple Soap Opera Digest Awards and an Emmy nomination for her performance . Lee's character was the only one to appear in all of the series' 344 episodes.

Her most notable roles in television films include Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story , in which Lee also interpreted all of the country singer's songs as Dottie West in 1995 . The film had high ratings when it first aired on CBS and was nominated twice for an Emmy . The accompanying soundtrack was only sold on Lee's official website. Another well-known personality played Lee in Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story in 1998 . Lee's portrayal of bestselling author Jacqueline Susann ( The Valley of the Puppets ) was made just two years before a thematically similar cinema adaptation with Bette Midler in the lead role.

In 2005 Lee was on stage in a three-city tour as Dolly Levi in ​​the musical Hello Dolly . In November of the same year she also appeared for the first time in a good 40 years with a program in a nightclub. With Catch the Light she made a guest appearance at Feinstein's in New York's Loews Regency Hotel and sang popular pieces by John Lennon and Joni Mitchell as well as a tribute to the jazz musician Cy Coleman . She later interpreted its music in the program Nobody Does It Like Me: The Music of Cy Coleman .

In 2011 Lee starred in the play The Tale of the Allergist's Wife and received a nomination for the renowned Tony Award for the first time since 1974. In 2015 an engagement in the musical Wicked followed .

Two years later, Lee received the Manhattan Association of Cabaret & Clubs Lifetime Achievement Award for her versatile achievements in over 50 years of show business. The award was presented to her by her good friend Sarah Bernhard.

Lee has had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 1998 .

Filmography

As an actress

As a director

Discography

  • 1966: A Taste of the Fantastic Michele Lee (Columbia)
  • 1968: L. David Sloane And Other Hits of Today (Columbia)

Web links

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  1. ↑ http://www.micheleleeonline.com/theatre/vintage_60.html
  2. ^ Joel Whitburn : Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1999 Menomonee Falls, Wisc., Record Research, 2000, p. 370, ISBN 0898201403
  3. ^ Joel Whitburn : Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006. Chart Data Compiled from Billboard's Adult Contemporary Charts, 1961-2006, and Adult Top 40 Charts, 1996-2006 m Record Research, 2007, page 157, ISBN 0898201691
  4. ↑ http://micheleleeonline.com/theatre/seesaw.html
  5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated February 9, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tonyawards.com
  6. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0465739/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_31
  7. ↑ http://micheleleeonline.com/tv_film/big_dreams.html
  8. ↑ https://www.discogs.com/Michele-Lee-Big-Dreams-Broken-Hearts-The-Dottie-West-Story/release/3813031
  9. ↑ http://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-scandalous-me-the-jacqueline-susann-story-vol-50-no-21/
  10. ↑ http://www.micheleleeonline.com/theatre/hello_dolly.html
  11. ↑ http://www.callondolly.com/michele-lee/
  12. ↑ http://www.micheleleeonline.com/theatre/catch_the_light.html
  13. ↑ https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2015/11/07/barbara-cooks-spotlight-michele-lee-nobody-does-it-like-me-the-music-of-cy-coleman/
  14. ↑ http://micheleleeonline.com/theatre/tale_of_the_allergists.html
  15. ↑ http://www.playbill.com/article/michele-lee-will-show-how-to-succeed-in-broadways-wicked-com-351880
  16. ↑ https://www.broadwayworld.com/cabaret/article/Photo-Coverage-Sandra-Bernhard-Presents-MACS-Lifetime-Achievement-Award-To-Michele-Lee-20170329
  17. ↑ http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/michele-lee/
personal data
SURNAME Lee, Michele
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American actress and singer
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles