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Anna Lee Dead at Age 91
Posted Monday, May 17, 2004 10:33:19 PM
by Dan J Kroll
Anna Lee (
Lila Quartermaine), an actress whose acting career spanned 70 years, died Friday, May 14th. Lee had been ailing for the past several months and died at her home near Beverly Hills with son Jeffrey Byron, 48, by her side. She was 91.
Paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident just a year after she began playing Lila Quartermaine on General Hospital, Lee acted in a wheelchair for more than two decades until she left the soap last year, Byron said. Lee's stint on GH rejuvenated her, Byron added. "That was really a great elixir for her. Without a doubt it gave her much more longevity later in life," he said.
Late last year, General Hospital took Lee, a 25-year veteran of the show, off contract. The move outraged fans and Lee's son.
"I can tell you that this will kill her, emotionally and spiritually," Byron said at the time. "Mom took it very hard. It had a devastating impact on her."
Anna Lee was born Joan Boniface Winnifrith on January 2, 1913, in the village of Ightham, Kent, England, where her father was Rector of St. Peter's Church. At the age of 17, Miss Lee began to study with Elsie Fogarty at the famed Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
In 1935, Miss Lee was signed by Gaumont British and appeared in over a dozen films during the next four years, including King Solomon's Mines (with Paul Robeson), The
Camels Are Coming, Passing of the Third Floor Back, Young Man's Fancy, Return to Yesterday and Non-Stop New York.
In 1939, she came to the United States to star opposite Ronald Colman in My Life With Caroline. The following year she appeared as Bronwen in the Academy Award-winning How Green Was My Valley, thus beginning an association with the great director John Ford, which would span 25 years and eight pictures.
During World War II, besides starring in Seven Sinners and
Flying Tigers (both with John Wayne), Commandos Strike at
Dawn (with Paul Muni), Flesh and Fantasy (with Edward G.
Robinson and Charles Boyer) and Hangmen Also Die (directed
by Fritz Lang); she volunteered for overseas duty with the
U.S.O. and entertained Allied troops in North, Central and East
Africa, Iran and Sicily, first with Jack Benny and then with
Adolphe Menjou. Then, under special orders from General
George Patton (who made her an honorary private in the Sixth
Army), she spent several months visiting field hospitals
throughout the Mediterranean area.
During the years following the war, she made Bedlam, The
Ghost and Mrs. Muir, G.I. War Brides, High Conquest and Fort
Apache. In 1950, she moved to New York to appear in the new
medium of television. For four years, she played in the ABC live
weekly series, A Date With Judy; while also appearing every
Thursday evening as "anchorman" in a panel show for CBS
called It's News to Me, with John Daly, and during the fifth year,
with Walter Cronkite. During the early fifties in New York, she
also appeared in numerous live shows such as Pulitzer Prize
Playhouse, Kraft Theatre, Studio One, Robert Montgomery
Presents and Ford Theatre.
In 1957, Miss Lee returned to films, appearing opposite Jack
Hawkins in John Ford's
Gideon of Scotland Yard, which was
followed by
The Last Hurrah,
Horse Soldiers,
This Earth is
Mine,
The Prize,
The Crimson Kimono,
Whatever Happened to
Baby Jane,
In Like Flint,
The Sound of Music and
Seven
Women. She has appeared in the television shows, Eleanor
and Franklin, Scruples and The Night Rider, and guest-starred
in such series as Maverick, Dr. Kildare, The F.B.I., Mr. Novak,
Mission: Impossible, Perry Mason, Mannix, Family Affair and
Glitter.
From 1978 through 2003, Miss Lee appeared as Lila Quartermaine in
General Hospital. She was said to enjoysthe role greatly, both for the
diversity of the character of Lila, a challenge to her comedic
skills, and because she felt so close to her television "family."
In real life, Miss Lee was happily married to Robert Nathan, the
well-known novelist and poet, author of over 40 novels,
including Portrait of Jennie, The Bishop's Wife and One More
Spring. She suffered the loss of her husband in 1985, followed
by the death of her eldest son the following year.
In 1982, Anna Lee was awarded the M.B.E. (Member of the
Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). She went to
England to receive the award from Her Majesty Queen
Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. She has won three Soap
Opera Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress -- the first in
1982, followed by one in 1983 and a third in 1988.
In addition to son, Jeffrey Byron, Lee is survived by another son, Stephen; two daughters, Caroline and Venetia; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Miss Lee will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Daytime Emmys, to be held Friday, May 21st.
A General Hospital spokesperson said that a decision will be made within the next two months on how to address Lee's death on-air. An inside source tells Soap Opera Central that the show is trying to lure back prominent stars from the show's past for a memorial service.
Donations can be made in Anna Lee's name to The Disabled Veterans of America or The Royal Oak Foundation.
RELATED STORY DAYS, GL star Richard Biggs dies suddenly at age 44.
RELATED STORY Former GH Emmy winner Gerald Anthony dead at 52.
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