Mary Lee

Mary Lee

Born: October 24, 1924
Died: June 6, 1996
in Centralia, Illinois, USA
Mary Lee was born on October 24, 1924 in Centralia, Illinois, USA as Mary Lee Wooters. She was an actress, known for Ridin' on a Rainbow (1941), Nancy Drew... Reporter(1939) and Three Little Sisters (1944). She was married to Harry J. Banan. She died on June 6, 1996 in Sacramento, California, USA. Interred at Sierra Hills Memorial Park in Sacramento, California.

Appeared in a few short features for Republic in 1941, including one entitled Meet the Stars #5: Hollywood Meets the Navy (1941). Frequent sagebrush co-star for Gene Autry in the 40s. A CD of her rare soundtrack performances was issued by Varese Sarabande and is available from the Gene Autry Museum. Mary Lee had two sisters, Vera and Norma Jean, who were also performers. Ted Weems saw them perform together and hired Mary Lee to sing with the Ted Weems Orchestra for two years in the late '30s. Later, Vera worked as a secretary in Gene Autry's office, and Norma Jean also became an actress in Westerns. Republic Studios promoted Mary as "America's Little Sweetheart". The middle of three daughters born to an Illinois barber. The three girls did a singing sister act for local events. Mary quickly went solo as a teenager and was later signed up for Ted Weems Orchestra. Appeared in nine Gene Autry westerns as a teenager in which she sang and provided mild comedy relief. The singing cowboy heard her on a Ted Weems radio broadcast and influenced Republic to sign her up. She later appeared on Autry's radio show "Melody Ranch" and when Autry went off to war duty, appeared in a couple of Roy Rogers westerns. One sister, Vera, later worked as a secretary for Autry's Flying "A" Productions. The other, Norma Jean, also acted in westerns.

Had two children, Harry Philip and Laura L., with husband Harry J. Banan. She retired from films not long after they married.

In later years she worked at Bank of America.

Movies for Mary Lee...

Song of Nevada
Title: Song of Nevada
Character: Kitty Hanley
Released: August 5, 1944
Type: Movie
When John Barrabbee's plane makes an emergency landing, he wanders off and joins Roy's cattle drive. Later he learns he was killed when his plane resumed its flight and crashed. He also learns his daughter is going to sell his ranch and marry a man he dislikes. So he gives Roy a job on the ranch and sends him off to see if he can prevent both of these events while he remains in hiding. Written by Maurice VanAuken Western girl moves east and influenced badly by her snobby fiance. She returns to sell her deceased father's ranch. The father isn't really dead, though; he's hoping that his friend Roy can restore the girl's western values. Songs include "New Moon Over Nevada," "A Cowboy has to Yodel in the Morning," and "The Harum Scarum Baron of the Harmonium." Written by Ed Stephan
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Three Little Sisters
Title: Three Little Sisters
Character: Sue Scott
Released: July 31, 1944
Type: Movie
The three Scott sisters, Susie, Hallie and Lily, live in the small town of Riverdale with their father Tom, a handyman whose laziness is legendary. The high-spirited sisters relieve the tedium by collaborating on Lily's correspondence with Pvt. Robert Mason, who is stationed in Arizona....
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Cowboy and the Senorita
Title: Cowboy and the Senorita
Character: Chip Williams
Released: May 13, 1944
Type: Movie
Chip has inherited a supposedly worthless gold mine from her father and Craig Allen is about to buy it. Roy suspects the mine may be valuable and using a clue left by Chip's father, investigates. He finds the hidden shaft that contains the gold and with the posse chasing him on a trumped up robbery charge, races to town with ore samples hoping to get there before the ownership is transferred.
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Nobody's Darling
Title: Nobody's Darling
Character: Janie Farnsworth
Released: August 27, 1943
Type: Movie
Ugly duckling Janie Farnsworth is a student at Pennington High School, and has a crush on Charles Grant, Jr., who is the writer and producer of the upcoming school play. But Chuck thinks that she is too untalented and unglamorous to have a part in his production....
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Shantytown
Title: Shantytown
Character: Elizabeth 'Liz' Gorty
Released: April 20, 1943
Type: Movie
Liz lives with her mother and stepfather in a boarding house on the "wrong side of the tracks"
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Angels with Broken Wings
Title: Angels with Broken Wings
Character: Mary Wilson
Released: May 27, 1941
Type: Movie
Charlotte Lord, a widow in her early forties and owner of Manhattan's smartest modiste shop, is about to marry Guy Barton, a wealthy businessman. But Mexican divorces have been declared illegal, so Guy is still married to Sybil Barton, an unscrupulous gold-digger who left him twelve years earlier. She demands that Guy give her $250,000 for his freedom.- Written by Les Adams
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The Singing Hill
Title: The Singing Hill
Character: Patsy
Released: April 25, 1941
Type: Movie
If a young lady gives up her inheritance the local ranchers will lose their free grazing land.
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Back in the Saddle
Title: Back in the Saddle
Character: Patsy
Released: March 14, 1941
Type: Movie
Gene returns from the East with new ranch owner Tom Bennett to find everyone's cattle dying. Blaine has reopened the copper mine and the waste is poisoning the water supply. While Gene is away Tom confronts the miners and a man is killed in the ensuing gunfight. Now Gene not only has the dying cattle problem but his ranch owner is in jail.
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Ridin' on a Rainbow
Title: Ridin' on a Rainbow
Character: Patsy Evans
Released: January 24, 1941
Type: Movie
When the showboat hits town, two men use the parade as a distraction to rob the bank. Their accomplice is Pop, the clown from the showboat. He leaves the money on the boat and tells his daughter Patsy to bring it to him at a later stop on the river. Gene's investigation of a bank robbery takes him to the showboat where he becomes a performer. Gene and Frog try to find the money while helping Patsy and her father.
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Melody and Moonlight
Title: Melody and Moonlight
Character: Ginger O'Brien
Released: October 10, 1940
Type: Movie
Jane Frazee made her starring film debut in the Republic B-plus musical Melody and Moonlight. The plot is motivated by the show-biz aspirations of bellboy Danny O'Brien (Johnny Downs). With the help of a wealthy chiropodist (Jerry Colonna), O'Brien not only gets to star on a big-time radio show, but also sprinkles stardust upon his sweetheart Kay Barnett (Jane Frazee)-who, unbeknownst to everyone but the audience, is the daughter of the show's sponsor.
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Barnyard Follies
Title: Barnyard Follies
Character: Bubbles Martin
Released: October 5, 1940
Type: Movie
A country orphanage puts on a show with some musicians to save their 4H club from being shut down by greedy politicians.
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Melody Ranch
Title: Melody Ranch
Character: Penny Curtis
Released: September 15, 1940
Type: Movie
His Arizona hometown of Torpedo invites Gene back to be the honorary sheriff of the Frontier Days Celebration.
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Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride
Title: Ride, Tenderfoot, Ride
Character: Patsy Randolph
Released: September 5, 1940
Type: Movie
Gene inherits a meat-packing plant, then faces stiff competition from snooty Ann Randolph, rival owner determined to do him in.
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Carolina Moon
Title: Carolina Moon
Character: Patsy Stanhope
Released: July 14, 1940
Type: Movie
A singing cowboy and his sidekick encounter misunderstandings and rodeo havoc as they try and save a man and daughter from con men.
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Gaucho Serenade
Title: Gaucho Serenade
Character: Patsy Halloway
Released: May 9, 1940
Type: Movie
Gene Autry and sidekick Frog Millhouse depart Madison Square Garden and NYC heading west for home in their car and a horse trailer carrying Gene's horse, Champion. They discover that Ronnie Willoughby, a young boy just off the boat from school in England, has hitched a ride, thinking that Gene and Frog were sent by his father to meet him. Ronnie thinks his father is a big rancher in the west and doesn't know that his father, Alfred Willoughby, is serving time in San Quentin prison because of a frame-up by the officials of a packing company. To keep the father from testifying against them, the packing company officials, Carter, Jenkins and Martin, have arranged for the boy to be kidnapped. Along the way a runaway bride, Joyce Halloway, and her young sister Patsy join the troupe.
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Rancho Grande
Title: Rancho Grande
Character: Patsy Dodge
Released: March 22, 1940
Type: Movie
A ranch foreman (Gene Autry) helps three youngsters protect their inheritance from foreclosure.
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South of the Border
Title: South of the Border
Character: Patsy
Released: December 15, 1939
Type: Movie
A federal agent and his partner hang out in Mexico to check a revolution.
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Nancy Drew... Reporter
Title: Nancy Drew... Reporter
Character: Mary Nickerson
Released: February 18, 1939
Type: Movie
While participating in a contest at a local newspaper in which school children are asked to submit a news story, local attorney Carson Drew's daughter Nancy intercepts a real story assignment. She "covers" the inquest of the death of a woman who was poisoned. Nancy doesn't think the young woman accused of the crime is guilty and corrals her neighbor Ted into searching for a vital piece of evidence and stumbles onto the identity of the real killer.