Robert Edwin Lee (October 15, 1918 – July 8, 1994) was an American playwright and lyricist. In the early years of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Lee partnered with Jerome Lawrence to create Armed Forces Radio while serving together in the U.S. Army.Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee Biographies
CliffNotes. Retrieved November 6, 2023. Lawrence and Lee became the most prolific writing partnership in radio, with such long-running series as '' Favorite Story'' among others.

Life and career

Lee was born in

Elyria, Ohio Elyria ( ) is a city in Lorain County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the forks of the Black River (Ohio), Black River in Northeast Ohio, southwest of Cleveland. The population was 52,656 at the 2020 United States cens ...

, the son of Elvira (née Taft), a teacher, and C. Melvin Lee, an engineer. He attended Ohio Wesleyan University. 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'' 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'', was produced through the American Playwrights Theatre, and premiered at Lawrence's alma mater,

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

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

James Thurber James Grover Thurber (December 8, 1894 – November 2, 1961) was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist, and playwright. He was best known for his gag cartoon, cartoons and short stories, published mainly in ''The New Yorker'' an ...

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

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by the British author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently ...

''. They also adapted '' Auntie Mame'' into the hit musical ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to emulate the hardware of arcade games, video game consoles, old computers and other systems in software on modern personal computers and ...

'' with composer Jerry Herman, which won a

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

for its star, Angela Lansbury. 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 wo ...

's '' The Madwoman of Chaillot''. 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 Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas without restriction. Viewed as an integral component of a democratic society, intellectual freedom protects an individual's right to access, explore, consider, and ...

and

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

by speaking of a fictionalized Scopes Monkey Trial. ''The Gang's All Here'' (1959) examined government corruption in the 1920s. '' The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail'' (1970) was a

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

-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)

Personal life

Lee was married to actress Janet Waldo (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 Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

on July 8, 1994, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, 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) *'' Auntie Mame'' – 1956 (play) *''The Gang's All Here'' – 1959 (play) *''Only in America'' – 1959 – (play) *''A Call on Kuprin'' – 1961 – (play) *''Diamond Orchid'' – 1965 – (play) *''

'' – 1966 – (book of musical based on his play ''Auntie Mame'') *'' Dear World'' – 1969 (book of musical) *'' The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail'' – 1970 (play) *'' The Incomparable Max'' – 1971 (play) *'' Jabberwock'' – 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 The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

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 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights American lyricists Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Deaths from cancer in California Military personnel from Ohio Northwestern University alumni Ohio Wesleyan University alumni People from Elyria, Ohio Songwriters from Ohio United States Army personnel of World War II Writers from Ohio 20th-century American songwriters