Will Lee was born in Brooklyn on August 6, 1908.

On Broadway he portrayed many characters, most notably a movie mogul in Norman Mailer’s Deer Park and a pinball machine addict in The Time of Your Life. He also played various roles in movies, such as Benny “the creep� in Ball of Fire; a beggar in Casbah and a photographer in the great film about Brooklyn and Coney Island, The Little Fugitive.

Folks who grew up watching “Sesame Street� on TV will remember Will as Mr. Hooper, the candy store owner in bowtie and horn-rimmed reading glasses. He played the role for 13 years, at the same time going to his second job of teaching acting at the HB Studio which was directed by Uta Hagen, who was one of America’s most gifted actresses.

As a GI in WW II, he taught acting in Australia. In his later years he was affiliated with the American Theater Wing. One of the young hopefuls he taught there became that “Great White Hope,� James Earl Jones. His final movie was a small part in Sidney Lumet’s film Daniel, released in 1983 after his death on December 7, 1982.

— V. Parker

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