Sondra Lee, the Broadway star who was best known for her portrayal of Tiger Lily alongside Mary Martin in Peter Pan, has passed away. She was 97 years-old.
Lee Passes Away
Lee died in her New York City apartment on Monday evening, February 23. She reportedly passed away of natural causes.
Lee’s death was announced by her friend Rev. Joshua Ellis, a former Broadway press agent who is now an Interspiritual minister.
In confirming Lee’s death, Ellis set out to correct longstanding inconsistencies about the year that she was born. She was born Sondra Lee Gash on September 30, 1928, in Newark, New Jersey. Lee was not born in 1930, as listed in many online biographies.
“Sondra wanted to correct the error but never got around to it,” Ellis said in a statement. “However, she specifically asked that her this obituary press release set the record straight.”
Lee enjoyed a nine decade career as a dancer, actor, teacher, author, stage director, playwright, theatre and film consultant and painter. Indeed, she continually reinvented herself over the years.
Lee’s History
Lee’s big break came in 1954, when she collaborated with choreographer Jerome Robbins to create the role of Tiger Lily in Peter Pan on Broadway.
In her 2009 memoir, “I’ve Slept With Everybody,” Lee recalled when she first met Robbins at the Shubert Theatre. At the time, she had just missed his audition for “High Button Shoes,” and she did not know who he was.
“Oh,” Lee told him. “I just auditioned for ‘Allegro’ and they found I was too short so they let me go. So I’m going home to commit suicide.”
Robbins responded, “Don’t go home and commit suicide, come over here and dance for me.”
Lee did just that, and she booked the job.
Peter Pan would go on to become the first full-length Broadway show filmed for color television. Lee’s portrayal of Tiger Lily was seen by a then-record audience of 65 million viewers. The next morning, Lee was waiting for a train when she realized that her life had changed forever.
“A whole bunch of people came up to me on the platform and said, ‘We saw you last night! We saw you last night!,’” she told The New York Post in 2014. “Honestly, we had no idea how many people would be watching.”
Lee’s Time In Hello Dolly!
In 1964, Lee returned to Broadway to create the role of Minnie Fay in Hello, Dolly!. During that show’s run, Lee performed opposite a succession of Dolly Levi stars, including original lead Carol Channing, followed by Ginger Rogers, Betty Grable and Martha Raye. Lee would later be joined by Raye on a USO tour during the Vietnam War.
Lee made her final public appearance at Carnegie Hall in 2025 as part of the Transport Group’s concert performance of Hello, Dolly!. She made this appearance as the last surviving principal from the show’s original cast. There, Lee received a prolonged standing ovation, with the audience standing and roaring for her.
Rest in peace, Sondra Lee.