Michele Lee (born on June 24, 1942) is a Tony and Emmy-nominated American singer, dancer, actress, producer, director and frequent game show panelist of the 1970s. She is best-known for her role as Karen Cooper Fairgate MacKenzie on the 1980s prime-time soap opera, Knots Landing. She also co-starred with Dean Jones in the 1969 Disney film, The Love Bug. is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Los Angeles and L.A. redirect here. ... is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link will display the full 1942 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League [1] at an annual ceremony in New York City. ... An Emmy Award. ... For other uses, see Singer (disambiguation). ... A contemporary dancer rehearsing in a dance studio Dance generally refers to human movement either used as a form of expression or presented in a social, spiritual or performance setting. ... Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. ... The primary role of a television producer is to coordinate and control all aspects of production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking. ... A television director is usually responsible for directing the actors and other taped aspects of a television production. ... Quiz show redirects here. ... Further information: Primetime (TV series) Prime time is the block of programming on television during the middle of the evening. ... The first TIME magazine cover devoted to soap operas, dated January 12, 1976. ... Knots Landing was a primetime television soap opera that aired for 14 seasons, from December 27th, 1979 to May 13th, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show initially centered around the lives of four married couples residing in a cul-de... Dean Jones (born January 25, 1931 in Decatur, Alabama) is an American actor. ... The year 1969 in film involved some significant events. ... Walt Disney Productions is the former name of The Walt Disney Company, which it held from 1929 to 1986. ... The Love Bug was the first (and most successful) in a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions that starred a white Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie, a car with a mind of its own. ...

Stage actress

Lee began her career on television in an episode of the late 1950s sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. When she was 18, she auditioned for the Broadway play Vintage '60. She soon began appearing in musicals, becoming a star on Broadway at the age of 19 in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in the role of "Rosemary", opposite Robert Morse and the late Rudy Vallee, a role she reprised in the film version. She also appeared in more plays, such as the Los Angeles production of Jerry Herman's Parade and the Broadway productions of Bravo Giovanni and The Tale of the Allergist's Wife . The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis was a situation comedy which ran on CBS from 1959 to 1963. ... For other uses of Broadway, see Broadway. ... How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1961 musical, initially running for 1,417 performances. ... Robert Morse (b. ... Rudy Vallee (July 28, 1901 - July 3, 1986) was a popular United States singer, actor, bandleader, and entertainer. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Jerry Herman Jerry Herman (born Gerald Herman on July 10, 1933 in New York City) is an American composer/lyricist of the Broadway musical theater. ... Bravo Giovanni is a musical with a book by A. J. Russell, lyrics by Ronny Graham, and music by Milton Schafer. ... The Tale of the Allergists Wife is a play by Charles Busch. ...

Film and TV work

After she sang and starred in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), she became known for her roles in the films The Comic and The Love Bug, the latter becoming the biggest blockbuster movie of 1969. That same year, she starred in a special television production of the Jerome Kern – Otto Harbach musical, Roberta, in which she sang "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes". After the birth of her son, she worked infrequently until accepting a role on Broadway in Seesaw, which netted her a Tony Award nomination in 1974. After her mother's death, she stopped working, wanting to spend time with her only son. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1961 musical, initially running for 1,417 performances. ... The Love Bug was the first (and most successful) in a series of movies made by Walt Disney Productions that starred a white Volkswagen racing Beetle named Herbie, a car with a mind of its own. ... Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of popular music. ... Roberta was a 1933 Broadway musical, with music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Otto Harbach, which starred Tamara, Bob Hope, George Murphy, Lyda Roberti, Fred MacMurray, Fay Templeton, Raymond E. Middleton, and Sydney Greenstreet. ... Modern seesaws have springs for safer play. ... The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Awards, recognize achievement in live American theatre and are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League [1] at an annual ceremony in New York City. ...

In addition to becoming a singer, Lee became one of the most in-demand guest actresses of the 1970s, appearing in Marcus Welby, M.D., Alias Smith and Jones, Night Gallery, Love, American Style, Fantasy Island and The Love Boat. Marcus Welby, M.D. was a popular medical drama that aired on ABC from late September 1969 to May 1976. ... Alias Smith and Jones was a Western television series on ABC from 1971 to 1973, starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy. ... Night Gallery was Rod Serlings follow-up to The Twilight Zone, airing on NBC from 1970 to 1973. ... Opening theme of Love American Style Love, American Style was an hour-long television anthology which originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974. ... -1... For the Taiwanese youth program informally known as Love Boat, see Overseas Chinese Youth Language Training and Study Tour to the Republic of China. ...

Lee's name would proved to be even more prominent by making numerous appearances on several game shows in the 1970s, such as: Hollywood Squares, Match Game, Celebrity Sweepstakes, This Is Your Life, The Movie Game, The $25,000 Pyramid, What's My Line, The Gong Show, Snap Judgment, among many others. She appeared on a pilot of a 1970s game show Cop-Out that have never been aired. Quiz show redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Match Game was an American television game show, most often hosted by Gene Rayburn. ... Celebrity Sweepstakes was an American television game show that aired on NBCs daytime schedule from April 1, 1974 to October 1, 1976. ... This Is Your Life was a television documentary series hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards. ... The Movie Game or simply called Movie game is a quiz game that is popular for all ages and usually involves more than one person. ... Pyramid was an American television game show where contestants tried to guess a series of words or phrases, based on descriptions that were given to them, in the shortest amount of time. ... Whats My Line? was a weekly panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. ... Look up Cop out in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Television work

Knots Landing

In 1979, Lee accepted the role of Karen Fairgate on Knots Landing, a spin-off of the immensely popular Dallas. Though slow to start, the series eventually became a ratings hit and became one of the longest running primetime dramas ever, lasting for a total of 14 seasons from 1979 - 1993. Lee was the only performer to appear in all of the show's 344 episodes, which was a record for an actress - only recently surpassed by S. Epatha Merkerson on NBC's Law & Order. Knots Landing was a primetime television soap opera that aired for 14 seasons, from December 27th, 1979 to May 13th, 1993 on CBS. Set in a fictitious coastal suburb of Los Angeles in California, the show initially centered around the lives of four married couples residing in a cul-de... The Southfork Ranch, home of the Ewing family The original cast of Dallas. ... S. Epatha Merkerson as Lt. ...

Although Lee was having great success, her marriage to actor James Farentino was failing. She and Farentino separated around the same time Lee's onscreen husband, Don Murray, left the show. Lee thus played a single mother on Knots Landing at the same time she was becoming one in real life. Lee revealed that when her character took off her wedding ring in a 1982 episode, she was taking off her real wedding band. James Farentino (born February 24, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor. ... Don Murray (born Donald Patrick Murray on July 29, 1929, in Hollywood, California) is an American actor. ...

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. As one of the series' leads, Lee became very popular with fans, winning the Soap Opera Digest Award for Lead Actress five times, and being nominated for an Emmy Award in 1982 for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series". In 1983, the writers/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. Lee's friend and co-star Joan Van Ark has publicly praised her directing skills. 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, in which Lee had much input, Karen explains how she would like to be a Pollyanna and see the world through rose-colored glasses, but cannot be due to the real world around her. Kevin Dobson is US actor, born March 18, 1943, in Queens, New York. ... The Soap Opera Digest Awards are are award show held by the daytime television magazine Soap Opera Digest. ... The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming. ... Joan Van Ark (born June 16, 1943 in New York, New York, sometime credited as Joan Van Arc) is an actress who is best known for playing Larry Hagmans troubling sister-in-law and Michele Lees neighbor and best friend, Valene (Val) Clements Ewing Gibson Waleska Ewing on... For the album by rock band Northstar, see Pollyanna (album). ...

As Knots Landing moved into the 1990s, its popularity began to wane. The big budget that the series once had was trimmed and in the final season, the higher paid cast members were asked to appear in only 15 of the season's 19 episodes, as the budget constraints had become so that the production company couldn't afford to pay them. Lee refused and appeared in all 19 episodes that season, doing her extra four episodes for "union scale" pay.

Other appearances

Since Knots Landing ended in 1993, Lee has appeared in many made-for-TV movies, including a biopic of late country star Dottie West ( Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story) and she became the first woman to star in, direct, and produce a TV movie for Lifetime, Color Me Perfect in 1996. She also starred in the reunion mini-series Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac in 1997, and portrayed Hollywood novelist Jacqueline Susann in the television biopic Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story in 1998. In 2004, she returned to feature films in the role of Ben Stiller's mother in Along Came Polly. She guest-starred alongside Chita Rivera in a February 2005 episode of Will & Grace. Also in 2005, she reunited with her Knots Landing co-stars for the non-fiction special Knots Landing: Together Again in which the stars reminisced about their time on the hit series. A television movie (also TV movie, TV-movie, made-for-TV movie, etc. ... A biographical film or biopic is a film about a particular person or group of people, based on events that actually happened. ... Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. ... Dottie West (born Dorothy Marie Marsh October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer. ... Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac was a miniseries that served as a reunion show for the primetime soap opera Knots Landing. ... Jacqueline Susann (August 20, 1918 – September 21, 1974 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a Jewish-American author known for her mass-appeal novels. ... Benjamin Edward Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an Emmy-winning American comedian, actor, film producer and director. ... Along Came Polly is a 2004 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Hamburg. ... The Dancers Life poster Chita Rivera (born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero on January 23, 1933 in Washington, D.C.) is a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical actress dancer, and singer best known for her musical theater roles. ... February 2005 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → Pope John Paul II is taken to a hospital suffering from a serious case of influenza. ... Will & Grace is a popular American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on NBC from 1998 to 2006. ...

Private life

In 1963, she met actor James Farentino on the set of the play, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and in 1964 they were married. Their son, David Farentino, was born July 6, 1969. She lost her father, Jack Dusick, in 1970 from a massive heart attack. In 1976, she lost her mother, Sylvia Dusick. James Farentino (born February 24, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American actor. ... How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a 1961 musical, initially running for 1,417 performances. ... is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1969 (number) 1969 (movie) 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... Heart attack redirects here. ...

Lee and Farentino divorced in 1983, and she then met Fred Rappaport at a party. They were married in 1987.

Lee and her son David have since relocated to New York.

External links

• Michele Lee at the Internet Movie Database
• Michele Lee Online