Florence Lee(1902-1993)
- Actress
Florence Lee was a film actress in the 1920s who played opposite Jack Dempsey in the Fight and Win series and also appeared in comedy shorts and westerns.
Born Florence Catherine Lee in Chicago in 1902, she was the daughter of immigrants from Norway: Oscar J. Lee, a manufacturer's agent, and the former Augusta Olsen. Her parents divorced and her mother married William L. Johnson, a hotel clerk, in Detroit in 1916 where a half-sister, Catherine Louise Johnson, was born in 1917.
Her mother divorced again and moved with her daughters to Los Angles. Florence found parts in films on the Universal lot and at Fox studios starting around 1920.
She married Teddy Hayes in 1922. Her husband was a close friend of Jack Dempsey while the boxing champion was making films in Hollywood, and Florence found roles in Dempsey's films. She was riding in Jack Dempsey's Rolls Royce in 1924 when the car crashed en route to a film location, but she was not seriously injured.
A reviewer of her 1923 film The Blood Test (in which she playing opposite Dick Hatten) described her as "a distinct type of blond beauty" and commented: "Typical in every sense of the word is she in this winsome characterization, though certainly not lacking in dramatic power... she reaches strong emotional heights." (Muncie Evening Press, 9 April 1923, Page 2)
She divorced Teddy Hayes in 1926, and later (1932) sued him for unpaid alimony after press reports that Hayes had married the actress Lina Basquette. She was modeling clothes in the 1930s and was working as a hostess in a retail clothing store in 1940. She married Albert Clifford Kelley, an engineer, in 1944. They divorced in 1970. She settled in Arcadia, California, in the 1940s and lived there until her death.
Born Florence Catherine Lee in Chicago in 1902, she was the daughter of immigrants from Norway: Oscar J. Lee, a manufacturer's agent, and the former Augusta Olsen. Her parents divorced and her mother married William L. Johnson, a hotel clerk, in Detroit in 1916 where a half-sister, Catherine Louise Johnson, was born in 1917.
Her mother divorced again and moved with her daughters to Los Angles. Florence found parts in films on the Universal lot and at Fox studios starting around 1920.
She married Teddy Hayes in 1922. Her husband was a close friend of Jack Dempsey while the boxing champion was making films in Hollywood, and Florence found roles in Dempsey's films. She was riding in Jack Dempsey's Rolls Royce in 1924 when the car crashed en route to a film location, but she was not seriously injured.
A reviewer of her 1923 film The Blood Test (in which she playing opposite Dick Hatten) described her as "a distinct type of blond beauty" and commented: "Typical in every sense of the word is she in this winsome characterization, though certainly not lacking in dramatic power... she reaches strong emotional heights." (Muncie Evening Press, 9 April 1923, Page 2)
She divorced Teddy Hayes in 1926, and later (1932) sued him for unpaid alimony after press reports that Hayes had married the actress Lina Basquette. She was modeling clothes in the 1930s and was working as a hostess in a retail clothing store in 1940. She married Albert Clifford Kelley, an engineer, in 1944. They divorced in 1970. She settled in Arcadia, California, in the 1940s and lived there until her death.
