Dorothy Lee

For the anthropologist, see Dorothy D. Lee.

Dorothy Lee
Born	Marjorie Elizabeth Millsap May 23, 1911 Los Angeles, California
Died	June 24, 1999(1999-06-24) (aged 88) San Diego, California
Years active	1929–1941
Spouse	Robert Booth (1927–1929) Jimmy Fidler (1931–1931) Marshall Duffield (1933–1935) A.G. Atwater (1937–1939) John Bersbach (1941–1960) Charles Calderini (1960–1985)

Dorothy Lee (May 23, 1911 – June 24, 1999) was an American actress and comedian during the 1930s, usually appearing alongside the popular Wheeler & Woolsey comedy team.

Born Marjorie Elizabeth Millsap in Los Angeles, she started seeking film roles in 1929, after graduating from high school, but ended up in New York working on the stage. At 18, she signed with RKO Pictures and began working with Wheeler & Woolsey; she became so identified with the comedians that she seldom appeared apart from them.

She withdrew from the series after producer David O. Selznick tampered with her performance in Girl Crazy; she returned when Selznick's successor Mark Sandrich cast her in two well-received features in 1934. RKO replaced her with Mary Carlisle and then Betty Grable, but she returned in 1935 for two final appearances.

In the early 1940s, after Robert Woolsey had died, Bert Wheeler was struggling to re-establish himself as a solo performer, and asked Dorothy Lee to tour with him in vaudeville. She immediately interrupted her private life to help her old friend.

Lee was married six times, including briefly to Hollywood gossip columnist Jimmy Fidler. She had four children by her fifth husband, John Bersbach. She died in 1999, at the age of 88.

Partial filmography

• Syncopation (1929)
• Rio Rita (1929)
• The Cuckoos (1930)
• Dixiana (1930)
• Half Shot at Sunrise (1930)
• Hook, Line and Sinker (1930)
• Cracked Nuts (1931)
• Caught Plastered (1931)
• Laugh and Get Rich (1931)
• The Stolen Jools (1931, cameo appearance in short subject)
• Girl Crazy (1932)
• A Preferred List (1933, lead in short subject)
• Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934)
• School for Girls (1934)
• Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934)
• The Rainmakers (1935)
• Silly Billies (1936)

References

• The Official Dorothy Lee, Wheeler and Woolsey Tribute, Jamie Brotherton, 1999
• Farewell to the Stunning Beauty of the 1930s, Jamie Brotherton, Big Reel Magazine, 1999

External links

Biography portal

• Dorothy Lee at the Internet Movie Database
• Dorothy Lee at AllRovi
• Dorothy Lee at the Internet Broadway Database
• Dorothy Lee at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Lee, Dorothy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	May 23, 1911
Place of birth	Los Angeles, California
Date of death	June 24, 1999
Place of death	San Diego, California