1. Ruta Lee was born on Ruta Mary Kilmonis; May 30,1935 and is a Canadian-born American actress and dancer of Lithuanian descent.
29 Facts About Ruta Lee
1. 2.
Ruta Lee was born in Montreal, Canada, to Lithuanian immigrant parents.
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Ruta Lee appeared as one of the brides in the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.
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Ruta Lee had roles in films including Billy Wilder's crime drama Witness for the Prosecution and Stanley Donen's musical comedy Funny Face, and is remembered for her guest appearance in a 1963 episode of Rod Serling's sci-fi series The Twilight Zone called "A Short Drink from a Certain Fountain".
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Ruta Lee was born on May 30,1935, in Montreal, Quebec, the only child of Lithuanian Roman Catholic immigrants.
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Ruta Lee's father was a tailor and her mother a homemaker.
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Ruta Lee attended both Los Angeles City College and the University of California at Los Angeles.
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Ruta Lee worked as a cashier, usherette, and candy girl at Grauman's Chinese Theater, but when she was $40 short in her cash account at the end of her shift one night, she was fired.
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Ruta Lee then got a break as a guest on two episodes of CBS's The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.
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Ruta Lee soon found an agent, who landed her a job in an episode of The Roy Rogers Show, followed by a spot in 1953 on the series Adventures of Superman.
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Ruta Lee then co-starred with Audie Murphy and Darren McGavin in a Western, Bullet for a Badman.
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Ruta Lee appeared as Ellen Barton in the 1960 episode "Grant of Land" of the ABC Western series, The Rebel, starring Nick Adams.
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Ruta Lee was further cast on Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, Sugarfoot, M Squad, Gunsmoke, 77 Sunset Strip, The Alaskans, Colt.
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Ruta Lee appeared in two guest spots of The Andy Griffith Show, in 1962 and 1965.
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Ruta Lee began appearing regularly on game shows such as Hollywood Squares, You Don't Say, and Match Game.
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Ruta Lee performed extensively in the mid-1980s on stage, including the title character in the musical Peter Pan.
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From 1988 to 1989, Ruta Lee played a recurring role on the CBS sitcom Coming of Age.
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Ruta Lee appeared as the girlfriend of Bev Harris, whose character had inadvertently "outed" herself.
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Ruta Lee played the wife of Jerry Lewis's character in the British comedy-drama Funny Bones, in which they play the parents of the Oliver Platt's character.
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In 2002, Ruta Lee was presented with one of the Golden Boot Awards for her work in Western television and cinema.
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In 2006, Ruta Lee received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the television industry.
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In February 2008, Ruta Lee appeared as Clairee in a production of Steel Magnolias with Sally Struthers at the Casa Manana theatre in Fort Worth, Texas.
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In 2024, Ruta Lee appeared as a guest judge on season nine, episode six of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.
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In 1976, Lee married Texas restaurant executive Webster B "Webb" Lowe Jr.
25.
Ruta Lee describes her political views as "conservative" and she appeared at the 1972 Republican National Convention.
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In 1964, Ruta Lee called then-Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, asking him to pardon her octogenarian grandmother Ludvise Kamandulis, who had been sent to an internment camp in Siberia.
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The pardon was granted, and Ruta Lee's grandmother came to live with her in California later that same year.
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Ruta Lee again rescued a relative from the former Soviet Union when she secured custody of her 18-year-old cousin, Maryte Kaseta, from Lithuania in 1987.
29.
Ruta Lee has been involved with the charitable organization The Thalians for over 50 years.