Cherylene Lee obit

 

Cherylene Lee (1956-2016): Pioneering Actor and Writer

The "Chinese Shirley Temple" danced alongside Gene Kelly, starred in "Flower Drum Song," and became an award-winning playwright. 

 She is not on the list.

Cherylene Lee, a trailblazing Asian American actor and writer, passed away on March 18 after a decade-long battle with breast cancer.

Cherylene Lee started as a child actor at age three. For three summers, she and her sister, Virginia, performed on the Las Vegas strip as The Lee Sisters act. Lee is perhaps best known for her role in Flower Drum Song, where she sang and danced in “The Other Generation,” which also starred her sister. She appeared in shows like Dennis the Menace, M.A.S.H., and other TV shows and movies in the 1950s and 60s. Lee went on to become a prolific, award-winning playwright.

“Cherylene Lee was a remarkable woman, whose career spanned stage, screen and television,” said CAAM Executive Director Stephen Gong. “We are proud of having the opportunity to help Cherylene tell her story and send our deepest condolences to her family.”

In 2011, with support from the Creative Work Fund, CAAM began working with Cherylene on a live multimedia presentation of“Just Like Really”: An Uncommon Chinese American Memoir at SFIAAFF in 2012. We then produced several short videos, and finally, the longer video piece by John Liau (below).

In the video, Lee talks about her motivation as a writer:

“As a playwright, whose plays often draw parallels between the past and the present, East and West, science and art, I found a breach between how Asian Americans were and are still perceived, and how we perceive ourselves. I write to bridge that gap, to illuminate our humanity, our emotional common ground, to show how we all fit together, how we reinvent ourselves, how we all have a place at the table. What can be more American than that.” — Cherylene Lee

Lee was born and raised in Los Angeles, and was a fourth-generation Chinese-American. She had two sisters, Priscilla "Puggy" and Virginia. She began a career as a child actress and dancer at age three, and performed in a song and dance team with her sister Virginia in Las Vegas for three summers. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a BA in Paleontology and from UCLA with an MS in Geology. She subsequently managed an alternative wastewater treatment plant as a Disney Imagineer. In 1977, she returned to the stage, performing in A Chorus Line. In 1983, she began writing plays, poetry, and fiction. Her plays include The Legacy Codes about the Wen Ho Lee affair and Carry the Tiger to the Mountain about the death of Vincent Chin.

Lee is known for Bachelor Father (1962), Donovan's Reef (1963), Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock (1962), The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972), and M*A*S*H (1979). Later she became a writer and playwright. Among her plays were 'The Legacy Codes,' about the Wen Ho Lee affair, and 'Carry the Tiger to the Mountain,' about the death of Vincent Chin.

Actress

Corey: For the People

   TV Movie 1977

M*A*S*H (1972)

M*A*S*H

    Korean Daughter (uncredited)    TV Series 1975

 

The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972)

    Mimi Chan Susie Chan

    TV Series 16 episodes

Missy's Men (1968)

    Missy (as Tracey Lee)

    TV Movie

The F.B.I. (1965)

    Linn

    TV Series 1967    1 episode

With Tim Considine, William Frawley, Don Grady, Stanley Livingston, and Fred MacMurray in My Three Sons (1965)

My Three Sons

    Lee Ahn

A Letter to Nancy (1965)

    Nancy Lee

Kentucky Jones (1964)

    Annie Ng    1 episode

 

Vacation Playhouse (1963)

    Kim ChiSamantha Soo

    TV Series

    1963–1964

    2 episodes

 

Vince Edwards in Ben Casey (1961)

Ben Casey

    Suzie Umeki    1964

 

    John Wayne and Lee Marvin in Donovan's Reef (1963)

Donovan's Reef

    Sarah 'Sally' Dedham

    1963

 

McHale's Navy (1962)

    Kim SuTani

    TV Series

    1962–1963

    2 episodes

 

The Lloyd Bridges Show (1962)

    Lo-Ri

    TV Series 1962

1 episode

 

Fess Parker in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1962)

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

    Mi Ok

    TV Series   1 episode

 

Ensign O'Toole (1962)

    Kim Yo

    TV Series    1 episode

 

Martin Landau, Jody Lawrance, and Warren Stevens in Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock (1962)

Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock

    Ah Ling

 

Dennis the Menace (1959)

    Sen Yuen    TV Series    1962

    1 episode

 

John Forsythe, Noreen Corcoran, and Sammee Tong in Bachelor Father (1957)

Bachelor Father

    Blossem Blossom

    TV Series 1962   2 episodes

 

Nancy Kwan and Miyoshi Umeki in Flower Drum Song (1961)

Flower Drum Song

    Wang's Youngest Daughter (uncredited)

    1961

 

"Eighty Yard Run, The" (Playhouse 90) Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward. 1957 CBS

Playhouse 90

    Asian Girl    1 episode