Sondra Lee, the Broadway and film star, died on Monday of natural causes at the age of 97.
The news of her death came from her collaborator and friend the Rev Joshua Ellis, a former Broadway publicist and an interspiritual minister.
Lee had a varied nine-decade career that spanned stage and screen but is perhaps best known for her performance in the classic 1955 TV presentation of Peter Pan, in which she played Tiger Lily. While she was in her late 20s at the time of filming, her petite build and vivacious performance style brought zest to the role of a teenager.
She is also beloved in musical theater for originating the role of Minnie Fay in the original 1964 Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! alongside Carol Channing in the title role.
Born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1928, Lee was given growth hormones as a child because of her short stature: as an adult, she stood at 4ft 10.5in. After training in ballet, she moved to New York in the 1940s and began working in theater while living at a boarding house alongside future stars such as Maureen Stapleton and Marlon Brando, with whom she had a friendship and brief affair.
Lee’s work on Broadway began with 1947’s High Bottom Shoes and she met Jerome Robbins, the legendary choreographer, while working on the show. Together, the pair collaborated on creating the role of Tiger Lily in the 1954 musical Peter Pan, which attracted 65 million viewers when it was shown on television the following year.
After the telecast, the actor was catapulted to overnight fame. In a 2014 interview, Lee recalled being at a train station the day after the airing, saying: “A whole bunch of people came up to me on the platform and said: ‘We saw you last night! We saw you last night!’ Honestly, we had no idea how many people would be watching.”
After joining Roland Petit’s La Revue des Ballets de Paris in 1957, Lee toured Europe and caught the attention of Federico Fellini, the Italian director, who cast her as a ballerina in the final party scene of La Dolce Vita. In 1964, she was chosen by Gower Champion, a director and choreographer, to star as Minnie Fay in Hello, Dolly! She would forever be beloved by theater fans for the role.
In her later life, Lee worked as a coach for performers across the arts, with clients including Marlon Brando, Dustin Hoffman, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Amy Adams, Matt Dillon and Cyndi Lauper.
Her 2009 book I’ve Slept with Everybody: A Memoir she wrote, “If you paint, you have to exhibit. If you write, someone has to read it. If you perform, someone else has to see you. It is the sense of community. Knowing that a community exists! We are the community! In this life, the wonderful life in the arts. Together! Together!”
Her last public appearance was at New York’s Carnegie Hall in June 2025 for Hello, Dolly! In Concert, for which she received a standing ovation as the sole surviving member of the show’s original cast.
