Robert Edwin Lee (October 15, 1918 – July 8, 1994) was an American playwright and lyricist. With his writing partner, Jerome Lawrence, Lee worked for Armed Forces Radio during World War II; Lawrence and Lee became the most prolific writing partnership in radio, with such long-running series as ''

Favorite Story ''Favorite Story'' is an American old-time radio dramatic anthology. It was nationally syndicated by the Ziv Company from 1946 to 1949. The program was "advertised as a show that 'stands head and shoulders above the finest programs on the air'". ...

'' among others.

Life and career

Lee was born in

Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in the Greater Cleveland metropolitan statistical area and the county seat of Lorain County, Ohio, United States, located at the forks of the Black River in Northeast Ohio 23 miles southwest of Cleveland. As of the 2020 cen ...

, the son of Elvira (née Taft), a teacher, and C. Melvin Lee, an engineer. He attended

Ohio Wesleyan University Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio. It was founded in 1842 by methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five – a consortium ...

. Lawrence and Lee turned to the live theatre in 1955 with '' Inherit the Wind'', which remains among the most-produced plays in the American theatre. They are also well known for the plays ''

Auntie Mame ''Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade'' is a 1955 novel by American author Patrick Dennis chronicling the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his Aunt Mame Dennis, the sister of his dead father. The book is often desc ...

'' and '' First Monday in October''. In 1965, Lawrence and Lee founded the American Playwrights' Theatre, a plan to bypass the commerciality of the Broadway stage, which foreshadowed the professional regional theatre movement. Their wildly successful play, ''

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail ''The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail'' is a two-act American play by Robert E. Lee and Jerome Lawrence written in 1969. The play is based on the early life of the title character, Henry David Thoreau, leading up to his night spent in a jail in Conc ...

'', was produced through the American Playwrights Theatre, and premiered at Lawrence's alma mater,

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, which also commissioned their play on the life and times of James Thurber, ''

Jabberwock "Jabberwocky" is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll about the killing of a creature named "the Jabberwock". It was included in his 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'', the sequel to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865). The bo ...

'' (1972). In all, they collaborated on 39 works, and, with James Hilton, a 1956 musical adaptation of Hilton's novel ''

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called ''Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by director Frank Capra. It is best remembered as the origin of Shangri-La, a fictional utopian lamaser ...

'', entitled ''

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

''. They also adapted ''

'' into the hit musical '' Mame'' with composer

Jerry Herman Gerald Sheldon Herman (July 10, 1931December 26, 2019) was an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway theatre. One of the most commercially successful Broadway songwriters of his time, Herman was the composer and lyricis ...

, which won a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

for its star,

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

. Less successful was the Lawrence and Lee collaboration with Herman, also starring Lansbury, '' Dear World'', a musical adaptation of

Jean Giraudoux Hippolyte Jean Giraudoux (; 29 October 1882 – 31 January 1944) was a French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. He is considered among the most important French dramatists of the period between World War I and World War II. His work ...

's ''

The Madwoman of Chaillot ''The Madwoman of Chaillot'' (french: La Folle de Chaillot) is a play, a poetic satire, by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux, written in 1943 and first performed in 1945, after his death. The play is in two acts. The story concerns an eccentric woma ...

''. Several of Lawrence and Lee's plays draw on events from United States history to speak to contemporary issues. '' Inherit the Wind'' (1955) addressed intellectual freedom and

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

by speaking of a fictionalized Scopes Monkey Trial. ''The Gang's All Here'' (1959) examined government corruption in the 1920s. ''

'' (1970) was a

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

-era exploration of Thoreau's resistance to an earlier war. The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, a theater research facility and archive was dedicated in Lawrence and Lee's honor at the

in 1986.Eder, Bruc
"Robert E. Lee" (Allmovie biography)
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Personal life

Lee was married to actress

Janet Waldo Janet Waldo (born Jeanette Marie Waldo; February 4, 1919 – June 12, 2016) was an American radio and voice actress. In animation, she voiced Judy Jetson in various Hanna-Barbera media, Nancy in ''Shazzan'', Penelope Pitstop, Princess from ''Batt ...

(the voice of many well-known cartoon characters, including Judy Jetson) from 1948 until his death in 1994. Together they had two children, Jonathan Barlow Lee, the production manager for Center Theatre Group's Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and Lucy Lee, who teaches Clinical Management Communication at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, in Los Angeles.

Death

Lee died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on July 8, 1994 in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, at the age of 75. He is buried in Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

Works (partial)

*''Look, Ma, I'm Dancin'!'' – 1948 (book of musical) *'' Inherit the Wind'' – 1955 (play) *''

'' – 1956 (book & lyrics of musical) *''

'' – 1956 (play) *''The Gang's All Here'' – 1959 (play) *''Only in America'' – 1959 – (play) *''A Call on Kuprin'' – 1961 – (play) *''Diamond Orchid'' – 1965 – (play) *'' Mame'' – 1966 – (book of musical based on his play ''Auntie Mame'') *'' Dear World'' – 1969 (book of musical) *''

'' – 1970 (play) *'' The Incomparable Max'' – 1971 (play) *''

'' – 1972 (play) *Blackbeard The Pirate- 1974 (book) *'' First Monday in October'' – 1978 – (play)

References

External links

* * * * *
Lawrence and Lee papers, 1917-1974
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Guide to the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Collection, circa 1800-1803, 1831-2003 SPEC.TRI.L&L
held by the Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute, The Ohio State University Libraries. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Robert Edwin 1918 births 1994 deaths People from Elyria, Ohio American lyricists Northwestern University alumni Ohio Wesleyan University alumni Writers from Ohio Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Songwriters from Ohio Deaths from cancer in California