Lee Wallace (born Leo Melis; July 15, 1930 – December 20, 2020) was an American actor of film, stage, and television.

Personal life

Wallace was born as Leo Melis in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, the son of Celia (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Gross) and Eddie Melis. As of 2016, Wallace lived in New York City with his wife

Marilyn Chris Marilyn Chris (born May 19, 1938) is an American actress, possibly best known as Wanda Webb Wolek on the ABC soap opera, ''One Life to Live''. Education Born in Brooklyn, New York, Chris attended the High School of Performing Arts and City Coll ...

until his death on December 20, 2020. The couple have one child, Paul Wallace.

Career

His movie roles include more than a dozen productions big and small, including '' Klute'' (1971), '' The Hot Rock'' (1972), '' The Taking of Pelham One Two Three'' (1974) as the Mayor of New York City, ''

The Happy Hooker ''The Happy Hooker: My Own Story'' is a best-selling memoir by Xaviera Hollander, a call girl, published in 1971. It sold over 20 million copies. Robin Moore, who took Hollander's dictations of the book's contents, came up with the title, while Yv ...

'' (1975), '' Diary of the Dead'' (1976), ''

Thieves Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

'' (1977), '' Private Benjamin'' (1980) as Mr. Waxman, ''

World War III World War III or the Third World War, often abbreviated as WWIII or WW3, are names given to a hypothetical worldwide large-scale military conflict subsequent to World War I and World War II. The term has been in use since at ...

'' (1982), ''

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...

'' (1983), ''Batman'' (1989) as

Gotham City Gotham City ( ), or simply Gotham, is a fictional city appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, best known as the home of the superhero Batman and his List of Batman supporting characters#Bat-Family, allies and List of Batman fa ...

's Mayor Borg, and '' Used People'' (1992). John Simon in his review of Batman called Wallace "a perfect Ed Koch lookalike". On

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

, he appeared in ''

A Teaspoon Every Four Hours ''A Teaspoon Every Four Hours'' is a comedy play written by Jackie Mason and Mike Mortman which was produced on Broadway in 1969. The play set a Broadway record by having 97 previews before its official opening. After its official opening, ''A ...

'', ''Unlikely Heroes'', ''The Secret Affairs of Mildred Wild'', '' Molly'', ''Zalmen or The Madness of God'', ''Some of My Best Friends'', ''

Grind A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back ( ...

'' and ''The Cemetery Club''.

Filmography

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Lee 1930 births 2020 deaths American male film actors American male musical theatre actors American male stage actors American male television actors Place of death missing 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors Male actors from Brooklyn Burials at Kensico Cemetery