{{not to be confused with|Sandra Lee}}
{{Short description|American actress and dancer (1928–2026)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Sondra Lee | image = Sondra Lee in Peter Pan 1954 (cropped2).jpg | caption = Lee in a publicity photo for ''Peter Pan'' (1954) | birth_name = Sondra Lee Gash | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|09|30}} | birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2026|02|23|1928|09|30}} | death_place = New York City, U.S. | education = Studio 61 | occupation = {{hlist|Actress|dancer|teacher}} | years_active = 1945–2025 | spouse = {{marriage|Sidney Armus|1953|end=divorced}} | height = 4'10"<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/theater/sondra-lee-dead.html Obituary], nytimes.com. Accessed March 4, 2026.{{paywall}}</ref> }}
'''Sondra Lee Gash''' (September 30, 1928 – February 23, 2026) was an American actress, teacher and dancer who performed on Broadway. She was known for her theatrical musical appearances, most notably appearing in the original productions of ''Peter Pan'' (1954) and ''Hello, Dolly!'' (1964). Aside from acting, she also taught acting courses at New York University and at the Stella Adler Conservatory.
==Early life== The daughter of David and Belle (Rosenfeld) Gash,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oct 19, 1953| page= 21 |journal= The Star-Ledger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1108932702/?terms=sondra&match=1 |access-date=January 25, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Sondra Lee |url=https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/artist/sondra-lee/ |access-date=January 25, 2025 |website=The Official Masterworks Broadway Site |language=en-US}}</ref> Lee was born in Newark, New Jersey, on September 30, 1928,{{efn|According to her obituary from ''The Hollywood Reporter'' and ''Playbill'', Lee was 97 years old when she died, with ''The Hollywood Reporter'' stating that Lee was born in 1928 with the acknowledgement that some internet databases listed her year of birth as 1930.<ref name=yahoo/>}} and grew up there.<ref name=yahoo/><ref name="ibdb">{{cite web|title=Sondra Lee|url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/sondra-lee-88224|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815191508/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/sondra-lee-88224|archive-date=August 15, 2020|access-date=August 15, 2020|website=Internet Broadway Database|publisher=The Broadway League}}</ref> As a child, she received growth hormone shots and frequently had pneumonia.<ref name="mb" />
She desired to be an actress from childhood, tracing those yearnings to watching Greta Garbo in the film ''Camille'' (1936). Although her mother wanted her to pursue training for a career in business, Lee persisted in her desires. She also began taking dancing lessons in her mid-teens,<ref name="slpd" /> studying at Studio 61 at Carnegie Hall.<ref name="mb" />
==Career== ===Stage=== thumb|Lee in 1967 Lee's early experience in theater included acting with the YMHA Players in Newark and performing at the Walnut House on the Hill in the Catskills.<ref name="mb" /> At age 16, she danced professionally in a nightclub in Washington, D.C.<ref name="slpd" />
She began performing on Broadway in 1947 in ''High Button Shoes''. Other Broadway credits included ''Peter Pan'' (1954), ''Hotel Paradiso'' (1957), ''Jerome Robbins' Ballet: U.S.A.'' (1958), ''Sunday in New York'' (1961), and ''Hello Dolly'' (1964).<ref name=ibdb/> She also performed in ''Peter Pan'' in San Francisco in 1954.<ref name="ot">{{cite news |title=Sondra Lee In 'Peter Pan' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57408406/sondra-lee/ |access-date=August 15, 2020 |work=Oakland Tribune |date=July 26, 1954 |page=24|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> In 1953, Lee portrayed Daisy, a maid, in a production of ''Bloomer Girl'' by the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre,<ref name="slpd">{{cite news |last1=Kimbrough |first1=Mary |title=Verbal Compliment Sent by Freight |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57396736/sondra-lee/ |access-date=August 15, 2020 |work=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=June 16, 1953 |page=36|via = Newspapers.com }}</ref> and in 1954, she relocated to France to be the co-star of ''Ballets de Paris.''<ref name="mb"/>
She directed ''Hillbilly Women'' at the ArcLight Theater in 2011. Based on Kathy Kahn's book of the same name, the production focused on six women of Appalachia, each of whom presented highlights of her life story.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Genzlinger |first1=Neil |title=Scraping By in Appalachia |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1634192138 |access-date=January 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=January 14, 2011 |page=C 12|id={{ProQuest|1634192138}}}}</ref> Lee taught at the New York University Drama School and at the Stella Adler Conservatory.<ref name="mb">{{cite web |title=Sondra Lee |url=https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/sondra-lee/ |website=Masterworks Broadway |publisher=Sony Music Entertainment |access-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118153505/https://masterworksbroadway.com/artist/sondra-lee/ |archive-date=November 18, 2020}}</ref>
For one month in 1965, she worked with members of a newly created touring division of the Metropolitan Opera to ensure that their death scenes evoked an appropriate response from the audience.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Calta |first1=Louis |title=Actress Teaches Met Singers How to 'Die' in Proper Style |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/116938205 |access-date=January 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=July 31, 1965 |page=10|id={{ProQuest|116938205}} }}</ref>
After a few decades on hiatus, Lee made her final appearance at Carnegie Hall in 2025 as part of the Transport Group's concert performance of ''Hello, Dolly!''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/sondra-lee-dies-9326e4f92030be25bef656b0e5548333|title=Sondra Lee, a veteran Broadway dancer with roles in ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Hello Dolly!’ dies at 97|publisher=The Associated Press|date=February 25, 2026|accessdate=February 25, 2026}}</ref>
===Television=== Lee was a member of the casts of three DuMont Television Network programs. ''The S.S. Holiday'' (1950) was a two-hour variety program that was converted to a one-hour program and retitled ''Starlit Time'', featuring performances at nightclubs in New York City.{{r|etvs|page1=1008}} ''Once Upon a Tune'' (1951) was a musical anthology series that presented a complete musical (usually adapted from a Broadway show) in each episode.<ref name="etvs">{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=788|edition=2nd}}</ref> She also developed choreography for ''The Voice of Firestone'' and adapted children's stories that she wrote into dances for television.<ref name=slpd/>
She performed in NBC productions of ''Hansel and Gretel'' (1958)<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crosby |first1=John |title='Dial M' Was Expert Theater; Critic Tired of TV Fairy Tales |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57409215/the-times-tribune/ |access-date=August 15, 2020 |work=The Times-Tribune |agency=New York Herald Tribune |date=April 30, 1958 |location=Pennsylvania, Scranton |page=31|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref> and ''Peter Pan'' (1960).<ref>{{cite news |title=Mary Martin Flies Again in 'Peter Pan' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/57408801/the-times-recorder/ |access-date=August 15, 2020 |work=The Times Recorder |date=March 23, 1989 |location=Ohio, Zanesville |page=19|via = Newspapers.com}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Lee married Sidney Armus on October 16, 1953.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Oct 19, 1953, page 21 - The Star-Ledger|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/1108932702/?terms=sondra&match=1 |access-date=January 25, 2025 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}</ref> They had no children. The marriage ended in divorce. He died in 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sidney Armus |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/sidney-armus-74534 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=August 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114062255/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/sidney-armus-74534 |archive-date=November 14, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>
She made a hobby of using items that she described as mostly "just junk" to decorate her apartment in New York City.<ref name="nyt1">{{cite news |last1=Warren |first1=Virginia Lee |title=The Tag on the Sofa Said 'Love and Kisses' |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/117388674 |access-date=January 25, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 5, 1966 |page=34|id={{ProQuest|117388674}} }}</ref> Some items were gifts, including a Victorian sofa that someone anonymously left at her door and she reupholstered and an old clock that her parents gave her and she gilded. In other instances, she used her acting skills to obtain used items from shop owners at the lowest possible price.<ref name=nyt1/>
Lee's memoir, titled ''I've Slept With Everybody'', was published in September 2009.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bacalzo |first1=Dan |title=Sondra Lee's I've Slept With Everybody Set for September 15 Release |url=https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/sondra-lees-ive-slept-with-everybody-set-for-septe_20872.html |access-date= July 6, 2021 |work=TheaterMania |date= August 25, 2009}}</ref>
Lee died at her New York City apartment on February 23, 2026, at the age of 97.<ref name=yahoo>{{cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/sondra-lee-star-peter-pan-174626517.html|title=Sondra Lee, Star of ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Hello, Dolly!’ on Broadway, Dies at 97|publisher=Yahoo|date=February 25, 2026|accessdate=February 25, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://playbill.com/article/original-hello-dolly-star-sondra-lee-dies-at-97|title=Original Hello, Dolly! Star Sondra Lee Dies at 97|publisher=Playbill|date=February 25, 2026|accessdate=February 25, 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Sondra Lee, Star of ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Hello, Dolly!’ on Broadway, Dies at 97|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/sondra-lee-dead-peter-pan-hello-dolly-broadway-1236514865/|last=Barnes|first=Mike|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|date=February 24, 2026|access-date=February 25, 2026}}</ref>
==Selected stage works== {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Title !Role(s) !Notes !Ref. |- |1947 |''High Button Shoes'' |Corps de ballet; playmate of the boy at the picnic |Broadway debut |<ref>{{Cite web |title=High Button Shoes – Broadway Musical – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/high-button-shoes-1576 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref> |- |1954 |''Peter Pan'' |Tiger Lily | |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peter Pan – Broadway Musical – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/peter-pan-2470 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref> |- |1957 |''Hotel Paradiso'' |Victoire, the maid | |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Hotel Paradiso – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/hotel-paradiso-2627 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref> |- |1961 |''Sunday in New York'' |Woman | |<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sunday in New York – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/sunday-in-new-york-2902 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |website=www.ibdb.com}}</ref> |- |1964 |''Hello, Dolly!'' |Minnie Fay | |<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 17, 1964 |title=Theater: 'Hello, Dolly!' Has Premiere; Carol Channing Star of Musical at St. James |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/01/17/archives/theater-hello-dolly-has-premiere-carol-channing-star-of-musical-at.html |access-date=June 2, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> |- |2005 |''The Audience'' |Maddy | |<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stasio |first=Marilyn |date=April 11, 2005 |title=The Audience |url=https://variety.com/2005/legit/reviews/the-audience-2-1200526636/ |access-date=June 2, 2023 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> |}
== Notes == {{Notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0214227}} * {{Discogs artist|Sondra Lee}} * {{IBDB name}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Sondra}} Category:1928 births Category:2026 deaths Category:20th-century American actresses Category:21st-century American actresses Category:American musical theatre actresses Category:American stage actresses Category:American television actresses Category:Actresses from Newark, New Jersey Category:Broadway theatre people Category:American female dancers