Among the stars who are very well known to our younger generation, there are some of the stars who are representatives of the Golden era of Hollywood.
Their films and series shaped the cinema as we know it today, so their lives surely have a lot of interesting anecdotes and facts that we can learn a lot about.
In today’s text, we are going to talk about Lee Meriwether an American model, beauty queen and actress. Her life and career were full of ups and downs, but she managed to remain an icon of the Golden era of Hollywood.
We are going to talk about her career, personal life and all the other interesting facts you might or might have not heard about.
Early Life
Lee Ann Meriwether was born on May 27th 1935 in L.A. in California. Her father was Claudius Gregg Meriwether and her mother was Ethel Eve Mulligan. Lee grew up with one brother and the family moved to San Francisco where they both spent their childhood.
The family previously resided in Arizona. Lee went to the George Washington High School together with another celebrity Johnny Mathis and to the City College of San Francisco. Her classmate at the San Francisco College was Bill Bixby.
Lee was always a beautiful girl and everyone knew her for her exceptional good looks. She decided to enter a beauty competition in 1954, and she won first place. Lee became Miss California and in 1955 she became Miss America. After her competition, Lee continued performing and appearing on national television, where she caught the attention of many famous producers and directors.
Her first public appearance after the competition was on the What’s My Line with John Charles Daly. Thanks to the Miss America competition, Lee was able to join the very popular Today show and win the hearts of many.
Career Path
It is first of all for its beauty that Lee Meriwether is noticed. Indeed, she was successively Miss San Francisco, Miss California, and then Miss America in 1955. After giving up the title, she made her television debut in the Today Show on NBC.
During the sixties, Lee appeared on an episode of Buddy and the Amazon. She made an appearance on the Leave it to Beaver episode and on the My Child is yet a stranger. Lee also portrayed the role of a nurse on the I’m Dickens, He’s Fester and on the medical drama on NBC called Dr.Kildare.
The sixties were very busy for Meriwether, so she appeared on the Man from U.N.C.L.E. and in one episode of the show called Hazel. Lee Meriwether gets his first role in The Philco Television Playhouse. In the ’60s, she played in many TV series, including Mission Impossible and landed one of her most famous roles in 1966 as Catwoman in Batman. The role of Catwoman was the one that brought her massive popularity and sky-rocketed her into fame.
In 1973, she began acting in Barnaby Jones, an adventure that lasted seven years and earned him two nominations at the Golden Globes and one at the Emmy Awards. During the eighties, Lee appeared on the remake of the Munsters in the role of Lily Munster where she joined the cast of Howard Morton, Jason Marsden and John Schuck. Lee appeared on few episodes of the show Fantasy Island and The Love Boat.
The actress plays in The New Monsters arrived from 1988 to 1991 and, in the early 2000s, began to dub video game, especially for Metal Gear Solid. It does not move away from the universe of the series since it can be seen among others in Desperate Housewives. In 2016, she plays in Kitty, the first short film by Chloë Sevigny, presented at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lee won many awards during her long career. This exceptional actress began by taking smaller roles and managed to get truly memorable roles in very big TV shows and series. She won the Golden Globe in 1975, 1976 and 1977 for Best actress in TV Drama and for a Supporting actress in a Drama series.
Lee managed to earn a lot of money during her long career. She appeared in many TV shows, movies and series, so her net worth is estimated at around 200$ million. This amount is just an assumption, which means that Lee could potentially be worth much more than this.
She is still bringing in money, and her latest appearance was in 2016 in a short movie by Chloe Sevigny. Even though Lee is now 84 years old, she is still active and we could potentially expect something new from her in the following period. She hasn’t announced any new projects, but that doesn’t man she doesn’t have something under her sleeve.
Personal life
Lee’s personal life was very interesting just like her career. Lee grew up in California and was used to the Cali lifestyle from early age. She grew up with her parents and an older brother Don Brett Meriwether. Lee moved from Arizona to California with her parents when she was very young, so she doesn’t really remember the period living in Arizona.
Another interesting thing is that she went to school with Johnny Mathis, famous singer, and also with Bill Bixby a famous American actor to the San Francisco College. It seems like these schools have gifted many famous people, who we enjoy seeing on out TV’s and big screens even today. After college, she knew she wanted to be in show business, so she pursued a career in acting.
Her father died in 1954, the same year Lee was proclaimed Miss California. The happiest and the saddest moment of her life happened at the same time.
She began her career through a beauty contest, but through her hard work and talent, she showed those who doubted in her that she is a talented actress. Lee starred in many roles since the fifties, and her most notable roles are the Catwoman in Batman franchise and the role in Barnaby Jones.
Lee soon became the America’s favorite actress and everyone remembered her for her beauty and talent for acting. In 1956, after her beauty competition, a wire photo of her and Joe DiMaggio came out in the press, and a rumor about their engagement started.
She later explained in her autobiography that this was only a rumor and that Walter Winchell had started it. Lee got married to Frank Aletter in 1958 and the couple had two daughters together, Lesley and Kyle Aletter-Oldham. Boh of her daughters are actresses.
She divorced her husband in 1074, for a reason she didn’t disclose to the public. In 1986, Lee decided to say Yes once again to Marshall Borden and the couple has been together ever since.
Lee is now 84 years old, and has a substantial career behind her. She has starred and played many different roles over the course of 50 years which have brought massive popularity to her. Lee is still a household name in Hollywood and almost everyone remembers her from the popular TV shows and movies.
She hasn’t done anything new in the last 3 years, and her last project was Chloe Sevigny’s short movie, that was shown on the Cannes Film Festival. Even though social media weren’t a thing in her youth, Lee kept a good pace with modern times and is now active on social media accounts like Twitter.
She often posts her opinions and shares information about her life. Lee spends most of her days with her family and friends, since she has worked hard enough her entire life. Her daughters are also actresses and they both have serious careers behind them.
Lee often appears as a guest star on Comic Con, where she talks about her role in Batman, Time Tunnel and Star Trek. She won three Golden Globes in her career, which is the biggest recognition someone can get while working on TV.
Lee Meriwether is a representative of the Golden age of Television and Hollywood and will forever be remembered for her beauty, talent and personality that everyone enjoyed seeing on their TV’s. Whether Lee is going to start a new project or not, we don’ know, but we can always go back to her old movies and series and enjoy her remarkable performance.
Quick summary
Full name: Lee Ann Meriwether
Date of birth: May 27th 1935
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
Age: 84
Profession: Actress, Miss America, model
Height: 1.74 m
Weight: 55 kg
Net Worth: 200$ million