Will Lee

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For the bassist of the same name, see Will Lee (bassist)

Will Lee (August 6, 1908 - December 7, 1982) played Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street, from the show's debut in 1969 until his death.

1 Early Career
2 Blacklist and Teaching
3 Impact of Mr. Hooper
4 Death of Mr. Hooper
5 Sources
6 External Links
7 See also

[edit] Early Career

Lee was born in Brooklyn, New York and began his career as a character actor on stage. He was a member of the Group Theater in the 1930s and appeared in Johnny Johnson, Night Music, Boy Meets Girl, The Time of Your Life (as Willie the pinball machine addict) and other Broadway plays. He succeeded John Garfield as the lead in Golden Boy.

Lee was co-founder of the Theater of Action and a member of the Federal Theater Project. During World War II, he served in Army Special Services in Australia and Manila and was cited twice for directing and staging shows for troops overseas, as well as teaching acting classes. After the war, he appeared Off Broadway in Norman Mailer's Deer Park (as movie mogul Teppis) and on Broadway in The Shrike, Once Upon a Mattress, Carnival, Incident at Vichy and The World of Sholom Aleichem.

[edit] Blacklist and Teaching

Lee also began appearing in films, including bit parts in Casbah, A Song Is Born, Little Fugitive and according to "Sesame Street Unpaved", Saboteur. However, much like Zero Mostel, Will Lee was blacklisted in films and on television for a period of five years during the McCarthy Red Scare, according to members of his family. He had been active in the Actors Workshop and had been an unfriendly witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities hearings in 1950 investigating show business. At the end of that period, in 1956, Lee landed the role of Grandpa Hughes in the soap opera As The World Turns, before finally being cast as Mr. Hooper.

He taught at the American Theater Wing for nine years (where his students included James Earl Jones) as well as at the New School for Social Research, Boston University and the Uta Hagen-Herbert Berghof Studio. In addition, he conducted his own acting classes. Outside of Sesame Street, later roles included television movies and a supporting role as the judge in Sidney Lumet's 1983 film Daniel (with Mandy Patinkin, Ed Asner, and Peter Friedman). He also worked in commercials, including a spot for Atari, as a grandfather learning to play Pac-Man from his granddaughter. He also did commercials for Ocean Spray juices.

[edit] Impact of Mr. Hooper

"He gave millions of children the message that the old and the young have a lot to say to each other," said Joan Ganz Cooney, president of the Children's Television Workshop. The New York Times reported that on Sesame Street, Will Lee's Mr. Hooper ranked ahead of all live cast members in recognition by young audiences, according to a then recent survey. His bowtie and hornrimmed reading glasses became his trademark. In a November 1970 TIME article, following the show's successful first season, Lee recalled his feelings about the show:

I was delighted to take the role of Mr. Hooper, the gruff grocer with the warm heart. It's a big part, and it allows a lot of latitude. But the show has something extra, that sense you sometimes get from great theater, the feeling that its influence never stops.

In addition to being a staple of Sesame Street for over ten years, Will Lee portrayed Mr. Hooper in television specials (Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, A Special Sesame Street Christmas), guest appearances (Evening at Pops: 1971), stage appearances, countless record albums, and parades, including the 1982 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Lee taped his final segments as Mr. Hooper in November of 1982, but his death would become the focal point of Episode 1839, in which Mr. Hooper's death is explained to Big Bird.

According to the NY Times obit, as he became known on Sesame Street, children would approach him on the street and ask, "How did you get out of the television set?"' or whisper, "I love you." "Apart from the joy of knowing that you are helping so many kids, the recognition is heartwarming," Lee was quoted as saying in 1981.

[edit] Death of Mr. Hooper

When Lee died of a heart attack in 1982, it left the producers of Sesame Street, the Children's Television Workshop, with questions about how to acknowledge the death of one of the series' most visible actors. After considering a number of options, CTW decided to have the character of Mr. Hooper die as well, and use the episode to teach its young viewers about death as a natural part of life and that it is OK for everyone — children and adults alike — to grieve when someone they love dies.

The "Farewell, Mr. Hooper" episode aired November 24, 1983 (Thanksgiving Day), and was quickly selected by the Daytime Emmys as being one of the 10 most influential moments in daytime television.

[edit] Sources

"Will Lee, 74, Was Mr. Hooper on Television 'Sesame Street'," The New York Times, December 9, 1982.
Associated Press, "Death and Sesame Street," The New York Times, November 27, 1983