WOMEN IN HISTORY - GYPSY ROSE LEE
Stripper, Vaudevillian, Movie Star, Author, Playwright, TV Talk Show Host
DATE OF BIRTH
January 8, 1911
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PLACE OF BIRTH
Seattle, Washington
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DATE OF DEATH
April 26, 1970
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PLACE OF DEATH
Los Angeles, California
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FAMILY BACKGROUND
Gypsy Rose Lee was born Ellen June Hovick, but her mother changed her name to Rose Louise after her younger sister June was born. Mama Rose thought June was cuter and should have the preferred name June. Having dreamed of a life on stage for herself, Mama Rose steered her daughters into vaudeville as soon as Baby June began dancing on her toes at age two. Known as the “no-talent daughter,” Louise preferred reading and eventually found an interest and a talent in sewing, becoming the act’s costumer at the age of 11. The act traveled around the country until 1928, when June, tired of the act, eloped at the age of 15. Not one to admit defeat, Mama Rose decided that Louise would now become the headliner, and hired six young girls to be Louise’s backup. By 1929, vaudeville was a dying art. Burlesque and silent movies had become the more popular form of entertainment. Completely broke, they took a booking anywhere they could and found, to their surprise, that they were booked into a burlesque theatre. One fateful night a stripper was too sick to go on, and Mama Rose volunteered Louise, by now 18, to take her place. And so the legend began.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Gypsy Rose Lee toured internationally, became a movie star, produced her own traveling show, authored two best-selling mysteries (both made into movies) as well as her highly celebrated autobiography which was adapted into the award-winning musical GYPSY. She became a political activist when first out in Hollywood, supporting labor unions and the Spanish Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War. She toured Vietnam, entertaining thousands of troops who lovingly referred to her as their sexy grandmother. She was married three times. She had one child, Erik Preminger. Gypsy wrote entertaining articles for The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, and other magazines. In 1965, Gypsy hosted a tv talk show called “The Gypsy Rose Lee Show.”
Gypsy Rose Lee died at the age of 59 in 1970 of lung cancer.
Gypsy Rose Lee died at the age of 59 in 1970 of lung cancer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Gypsy Rose Lee, Gypsy: Memoirs of America’s most celebrated stripper, Frog, Ltd. Books 1957
- Frankel, Noralee Stripping Gypsy: The Life of Gypsy Rose Lee, Oxford University Press, 2009
- Abbott, Karen, American Rose: A Nation Laid Bare, The Life And Times of Gypsy Rose Lee, Random House, 2010
- Preminger, Erik Lee, Gypsy & Me: At Home and On The Road With Gypsy Rose Lee, Little, Brown and Company, 1984
QUOTE
“Darling, you don’t have to be naked to look naked. You just have to think naked.” ~ Gypsy Rose Lee