{{short description|American actress}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Etta Lee | image = Etta Lee - Jan 1923 Shadowland.jpg | image_size = | caption = From a 1923 magazine | alt = | birth_name = Etta Lee Frost | birth_date = {{birth date|1906|09|12}} | birth_place = Kauai, Territory of Hawaii, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|10|27|1906|09|12}} | death_place = Eureka, California, U.S. | othername = | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1921–1935 | spouse = {{marriage|Frank Robinson Brown|1932|1956}} | partner = }} '''Etta Lee Frost''' (September 12, 1906 – October 27, 1956) was an American silent film actress, known for supporting roles.
==Early life== Etta Lee Frost was born on September 12, 1906, in Kauai, Territory of Hawaii (now Hawaii), as the daughter of Martin B. Frost. Her father was a Chinese medical doctor and her mother was of French ancestry.<ref name=Barrett-1923/><ref name="California2013">{{cite book|first1=Jenny|last1= Cho|last2=Chinese Historical Society of Southern California|title=Chinese in Hollywood|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3AbAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA20|year=2013|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-9973-1|page=20}}</ref> She had a sister, Ella Deverill, and grew up in California and went on to get her degree in education at Occidental College in Los Angeles.<ref name="auto" /> Lee moved back to Hawaii to be a teacher, before returning to Los Angeles to begin her career as an actress.<ref name="auto">{{cite news |title=Etta Lee Brown, former film star, dies in Eureka |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/37609767 |work=The Times Standard |date=October 27, 1956 |location=Eureka, Calif.}}</ref>
== Career == Lee's first film was ''A Tale of Two Worlds'' in 1921, where she played Ah Fah, a Chinese maid. She played another Chinese maid named Liu in the 1923 film ''The Remittance Woman'', a maid in ''The Untameable'' (1923), ''A Thief in Paradise'' (1925), ''The Trouble with Wives'' (1925), and ''International House'' (1933). Other so-called exotic roles she was cast in included The Slave of the Sand Board in ''The Thief of Bagdad'' (1924).<ref>''Exhibitor's Trade Review'' 1923: 1227. Print.</ref><ref>''Photoplay'' 1925: 395. Web. November 9, 2016.</ref><ref>''Variety'' 1923. Print.</ref> In 1923, she was called the only Eurasian girl in films.<ref name="Barrett-1923">{{cite magazine|last1=Clark |first1=Barrett |title=Half-Chinese and Wholly Lovely |url=https://archive.org/details/motion1724moti/page/n39/mode/2up |magazine=Motion Picture Classic |volume=XVII|issue=4 |date=June 1923 |pages=41, 76}}</ref>
Lee directly commented on the lack of diversity in her roles in an article in 1924. She noted that "I am equipped…to show oriental impulse and emotional complexities. But in this field I have not yet had opportunity."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jungmeyer |first1=Jack |title=Etta Lee is Rare Screen Type|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042243/1924-07-15/ed-1/seq-4 |work=The Bismarck Tribune |agency=NEA |date=July 15, 1924 |page=4}}</ref> She went on to discuss that even in terms of getting roles meant for Chinese women, she was often turned down because she was of mixed race and did not look Chinese enough.
She made her first stage debut in the summer of 1927, with a production of ''The Scarlet Virgin'' in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite news |title=Stage wins almond-eyed heroines |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063730/1927-10-17/ed-1/seq-3 |work=Brownsville Herald |agency=Associated Press |date=October 17, 1927 |page=3}}</ref>
== Personal life == In 1932, Lee married Frank Robinson Brown, a Welsh-born radio announcer and columnist,<ref>{{cite book |title=Variety Radio Directory |date=1940 |publisher=Variety, Inc. |page=889 |url=https://archive.org/details/varietyradiod19401941vari/page/888/mode/2up}}</ref> and retired from acting afterward. She became active in her community following retirement, becoming chairwoman of the Eureka Woman's Club. She was also an active member of the Episcopal Church.
Lee died at her residence in Eureka, California, on October 27, 1956, at the age of 50.<ref name="auto" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Etta Lee Brown |url=https://archive.org/details/variety204-1956-10/page/n393/mode/1up |work=Variety |date=October 31, 1956 |page=71}}</ref> She was survived by her husband, sister, and two nephews.<ref name="auto" />
==Filmography==
=== Film === {| class="wikitable" !Year !Title !Role !Notes |- |1921 |''A Tale of Two Worlds'' |Ah Fah | |- | rowspan="3" |1922 |''The Toll of the Sea'' |Gossip | |- |''The Infidel''<ref name="Barrett-1923">{{cite magazine|last1=Clark |first1=Barrett |title=Half-Chinese and Wholly Lovely |url=https://archive.org/details/motion1724moti/page/n39/mode/2up |magazine=Motion Picture Classic |volume=XVII|issue=4 |date=June 1923 |pages=41, 76}}</ref> |Chinese Girl | '''Lost''' film <ref>[https://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.6464/ The Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Catalog: ''The Infidel'']</ref> |- |''East is West'' | |Uncredited role |- | rowspan="2" |1923 |''The Remittance Woman'' |Liu Po-Yat | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Untameable'' |Ah Moy | |- |1924 |''The Thief of Baghdad'' |Slave of the Sand Board |Uncredited role |- | rowspan="4" |1925 |''A Thief in Paradise'' |Rosa's Maid | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Dressmaker from Paris'' |Mannequin |Uncredited role <br /> '''Lost''' film |- |''Recompense'' |Dancing Girl | '''Lost''' film |- |''The Trouble with Wives'' |Maid | '''Lost''' film |- |1926 |''Camille'' |Mataloti | '''Incomplete''' film |- |1927 |''The Chinese Parrot'' |Girl in Gambling Den | '''Lost''' film |- |1929 |''Manchu Love'' |Empress Tzu Hsi | |- |1933 |''International House'' |Peggy's Maid |Uncredited role |- |1934 |''The Mysterious Mr. Wong'' |Lusan - Moonflower's Attendant | |- | rowspan="2" |1935 |''Clive of India'' |Slave Girl |Uncredited role |- |''Let's Live Tonight'' |Manicurist |Uncredited role |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Etta Lee}} *{{IMDb name|0497244}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Etta}} Category:1906 births Category:1956 deaths Category:Occidental College alumni Category:American silent film actresses Category:20th-century American actresses Category:Actresses from Hawaii Category:Actresses from Los Angeles Category:American actresses of Chinese descent Category:American people of French descent Category:Episcopalians from California Category:People from the Territory of Hawaii Category:Protestants from Hawaii