Michele Lee: Difference between revisions

 

Lee began her career on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in ''Vintage 60'' (1960) and ''[[How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical)|How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying]]'' (1962). She made her movie debut in the [[How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (film)|film version]] of the latter in 1967. Her other film appearances include the [[Walt Disney Productions|Disney]] film ''[[The Love Bug]]'' (1968), ''[[The Comic]]'' (1969), and ''[[Along Came Polly]]'' (2004).<ref name="yahoo">{{cite web | url=https://movies.yahoo.com/person/michele-lee/biography.html | title=Michele Lee- Biography | publisher=[[Yahoo!]] | access-date=April 12, 2013}}</ref> She was nominated for the [[Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical]] in 1974 for ''[[Seesaw (musical)|Seesaw]]''<ref>{{cite web|author=The Broadway League |url=http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=49332 |title=Michele Lee &#124; IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information |publisher=IBDB |access-date=November 23, 2013}}</ref> and for

 

==Early life==

 

==Career==

Her television career began at age 19, on the December 26, 1961, episode of the CBS-TV sitcom ''[[The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis]]''.

 

In 1974, Lee starred in the [[pilot episode]] of the proposed CBS sitcom ''The Michele Lee Show''. She played Michele Burton, a clerk in a hotel newsstand,<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=685|edition=2nd}}</ref> with support from [[Stephen Collins (actor)|Stephen Collins]]. However, only the pilot episode was aired, and the series did not proceed. Lee became a busy guest actor in the 1970s, appearing on ''[[Marcus Welby, M.D.]]''; ''[[Alias Smith and Jones]]''; ''[[Night Gallery]]''; ''[[Love, American Style]]''; ''[[Fantasy Island]]''; ''[[The Love Boat]]''; and ''[[The Match Game]]''.

 

In 1979, Lee accepted the role of [[Karen MacKenzie|Karen Fairgate]] on ''[[Knots Landing]]'', a spin-off of the highly popular ''[[Dallas (1978 TV series)|Dallas]]''. Though slow to start, the series eventually became a ratings hit and became one of the longest-running American primetime dramas ever, lasting for a total of 14 seasons from 1979–1993.<ref name="yahoo"/> Due to her long-running tenure, Lee's alter ego is often credited as being the center of the program. Television personality [[Joan Rivers]] commented that Lee was, in theory, the "[[First Lady]] of ''Knots Landing''" during her guest appearance on ''[[The Late Show (1986 TV series)|The Late Show]]'', then hosted by Rivers.<ref name="Joan Rivers">{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VfImoq2VrA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/5VfImoq2VrA| archive-date=December 12, 2021 |url-status=live|title=Michele Lee on Joan Rivers with Lucille Ball (Part 3)|work=The Joan Rivers Show|date=24 October 2009 |access-date=January 31, 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The characters of the serial often represented what was happening in society at the time. Lee acknowledged that, saying, "Karen wanted to be a [[Pollyanna]] and wasn't ashamed of that. Remember in our society...when we could go over to other people's houses and come in through an open back door? I remember when I was a little girl and my mother and father would have people over and they'd walk into an unlocked door in our house."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.knotslanding.net/interviews/michele.htm |title=Knots Landing official website exclusive web only interviews Michele Lee |publisher=Knotslanding.net |date=March 16, 2003 |access-date=November 23, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031231042121/http://www.knotslanding.net/interviews/michele.htm |archive-date=December 31, 2003}}</ref> Lee was the only performer to appear in all of the show's 344 episodes.{{Citation needed |date=December 2023}}

 

During the fall of 1982, her character met M. Patrick "Mack" MacKenzie ([[Kevin Dobson]]), who became her screen husband the following year. They would continue working together until the end of the series. Lee won the ''Soap Opera Digest'' Award for Best Lead Actress (Primetime) three times, and was also nominated for an Emmy in 1982 for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmys.com/bios/michele-lee |title=Michele Lee &#124; Academy of Television Arts & Sciences |publisher=Emmys.com |access-date=November 23, 2013}}</ref> In 1983, the writer and producers of ''Knots Landing'' urged her to do a storyline based on prescription drug dependency, which became one of her most prominent storylines. Six years later, Lee directed her first of several episodes of the series. In 1991, ''Knots Landing'' reached a milestone with its 300th episode. During the same season, Lee filmed her favorite scene from the series, known as the "[[Pollyanna]] Speech" among fans. In this scene, for which Lee had much input, Karen reacts strongly against the social problems of 1990s society and explains how she does not want to be a Pollyanna and see the world through rose-colored glasses, but rather wanted the world to be rose-colored.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5T3sYbZXRY Knots Landing season 12 (1990-1991) Karen's Pollyanna Speech]. YouTube. Accessed 2 May 2024.</ref>

 

After ''Knots Landing'' ended in 1993, Lee appeared in many made-for-TV movies, including a [[biopic]] of late [[country music|country]] star [[Dottie West]] (''[[Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story]]''). She also became the first woman to star in, direct, and produce a TV movie for Lifetime, ''Color Me Perfect'' (1996). She was also in the reunion miniseries ''[[Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac]]'' (1997), and portrayed novelist [[Jacqueline Susann]] in the television biopic ''Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story'' (1998). In 2000, she returned to the Broadway stage in ''[[The Tale of the Allergist's Wife]]'' and received a 2001 Tony Award nomination for [[Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play|Best Featured Actress in a Play]].