London Alan Levine (February 4, 1935 – September 29, 2015), better known as London Lee, was an American stand-up comedian and actor.
Early life
Lee grew up in Closter, New Jersey.[1] He claimed that he was born in London, England while his parents were on vacation, and that he was named after that city.[2][3][4] His father was Mike Levine, a wealthy New York garment manufacturer.[5]
After graduating from New York University with a degree in psychology, he began work as a dress salesman for his father's company. He disliked the work and started his own record company, U.S.A. Records, which failed.[6][2]
After the record venture ended he took a succession of other jobs, including music publisher, personal manager and clothing manufacturer, interspersed with working for his father.
He moved to Los Angeles, working as a cab driver by day and a dishwasher by night. One night he told jokes to a group of friends, and was encouraged to perform on-stage.[6]
Career
His comedy routines were based on his being a kid from a wealthy family, He used to joke that his father was so wealthy that he bought a new yacht "when the old one got wet," that he "wrote out a check so big the bank bounced," and that his house was so large that "when it was 3 o'clock in the kitchen it was 12 o'clock in the bedroom."[4]
Another of his favorite lines was "I was a lonely kid, so my father bought me a German shepherd to play with. Not a dog."[7]
He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, in the early 1960s[7] and in 1965, he was signed by United Artists Records to record three comedy albums and a number of singles,"the first of which was to be "The Teenage Defender's Marching Song."[8] Lee made more than 200 TV appearances, including 32 on the Sullivan program.[9][10]
In the 1970s, he released a comedy album, The Rich Kid. Some of his material was written by comedy writer, Bob Ellison.[11]
He was the comedian hired for the Baldwin, N.Y. Class of 1971 Senior Prom
In the 1960s Lee played in celebrity golf tournaments, including the WNEW/Billboard International in 1968.[12]
Lee was divorced three times.[7] In his final years he resided in Deerfield Beach, Florida, where he died in 2015, aged 80.[citation needed]
He had at least one daughter, Stacey Lee, who - at one time - lived in Harrington Park, NJ.
References
^Kraushar, Jonathan P. "Bergen: Comics' Haven", The New York Times, March 21, 1976; accessed December 17, 2012. "For London Lee, for example, a resident of Closter, his childhood as a 'poor, little rich boy' provided him meat for his act for many years."
^Battelle, Phyllis (September 16, 1965). "Comic London Lee Had Rich Father". Cumberland Evening Times. p. 10. Retrieved June 18, 2017 – via Newspapers.com.
^ abcdBerliner, Neil (December 15, 2011). "London Lee: The 'Rich Kid' is Back!". Stage Time Magazine. Stage Time. Archived from the original on February 6, 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^Staff (May 1, 1965). "Signings". Billboard Magazine. Cincinnati, Ohio: Billboard Publications, Inc.: 12.
